View source for Native Americans in the United States

{{Short description|Indigenous peoples of the United States}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{very long|date=October 2024}}{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Native Americans
| image            = Indigenous Americans by county.png
| image_caption    = <div style="text-align: center">Proportion of Native Americans in each county as of the [[2020 US census]]</div>
| population       = '''Alone (one race)'''<br />{{increase}} '''3,727,135''' ([[2020 United States census|2020 census]])<ref name="Native Population 2020">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html|title=Race and Ethnicity in the United States|date=August 12, 2021|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=August 17, 2021}}</ref><br />{{increase}} 1.12% of the total US population<br /><br />'''In combination ([[Multiracial Americans|multiracial]])'''<br />{{increase}} '''5,938,923''' ([[2020 United States census|2020 census]])<ref name="Native Population 2020"/><br />{{increase}} 1.79% of the total US population<br /><br />'''Alone or in combination'''<br />{{increase}} '''9,666,058''' ([[2020 United States census|2020 census]])<ref name="Native Population 2020"/><br />{{increase}} 2.92% of the total US population
| popplace         = Predominantly in [[Alaska]], the [[Western United States|Western]] and [[Midwest|Midwestern]] United States
| region1          = {{flagicon|California}} [[California]]
| pop1             = 631,016
| ref1             = <ref name="Native Population 2020"/>
| region2          = {{flagicon|Oklahoma}} [[Oklahoma]]
| pop2             = 332,791
| ref2             = <ref name="Native Population 2020"/>
| region3          = {{flagicon|Arizona}} [[Arizona]]
| pop3             = 319,512
| ref3             = <ref name="Native Population 2020"/>
| region4          = {{flagicon|Texas}} [[Texas]]
| pop4             = 278,948
| ref4             = <ref name="Native Population 2020"/>
| region5          = {{flagicon|New Mexico}} [[New Mexico]]
| pop5             = 212,241
| ref5             = <ref name="Native Population 2020"/>
| languages        = '''[[American Indian English|English]]''' <br /> '''[[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Native American languages]]'''<br />(including [[Navajo language|Navajo]], [[Central Alaskan Yup'ik language|Central Alaskan Yup'ik]], [[Tlingit language|Tlingit]], [[Haida language|Haida]], [[Dakota language|Dakota]], [[Seneca language|Seneca]], [[Lakota language|Lakota]], [[Western Apache language|Western Apache]], [[Keres language|Keres]], [[Cherokee language|Cherokee]], [[Choctaw language|Choctaw]], [[Creek language|Creek]], [[Kiowa language|Kiowa]], [[Comanche language|Comanche]], [[Osage language|Osage]], [[Zuni language|Zuni]], [[Pawnee language|Pawnee]], [[Shawnee language|Shawnee]], [[Winnebago language|Winnebago]], [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]], [[Cree language|Cree]], [[O'odham language|O'odham]]<ref>Siebens, J & T Julian. ''Native North American Languages Spoken at Home in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2006–2010''. United States Census Bureau. December 2011.</ref>) <br /> '''[[Spanish language in the United States|Spanish]]''' <br /> '''[[Native American Pidgin English|Native Pidgin]]''' (extinct) <br /> '''[[French language|French]]'''
| religions        = {{plainlist|
** Predominantly Traditional [[Native American religion]]s, unique to specific tribes or bands<ref>Pritzker 331</ref>
* [[Native American Church]]<ref>Pritzker 331</ref>
* [[Christianity|Christian]], denomination dependent on tribe
* [[Protestantism in the United States|Protestant]]
* [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]]
* [[Eastern Orthodox Church in North America|Russian Orthodox]] (mostly in [[Alaska]])<ref>Pritzker 335</ref> }}
| related-c          = {{plainlist|
** [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]]
** [[Indigenous peoples in Canada]]
** [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico]]
** [[Indigenous peoples of South America]]
}}
}}
{{Native American topics sidebar}}

[[File:Comanche Indians Chasing Buffalo with Lances and Bows.jpg|thumb|''Comanche Indians Chasing Buffalo with Lances and Bows'', a mid-19th century portrait depicting the [[Comanche]] tribe by [[George Catlin]], now on display at the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
'''Native Americans''' (also called '''American Indians''', '''First Americans''', or '''Indigenous Americans''') are the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous peoples]] of the [[United States]], particularly of the [[Contiguous United States|lower 48 states]] and [[Alaska]]. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie in any of the indigenous peoples of North or South America. The [[United States Census Bureau]] publishes data about "American Indians and [[Alaska Natives]]", whom it defines as anyone "having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America ... and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment".<ref name="US Census Race definitions">{{cite web |title=About the Topic of Race |url=https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html|access-date=2024-06-29 |publisher=United States Census Bureau}}</ref> The [[census]] does not, however, enumerate "Native Americans" as such, noting that the latter term can encompass a broader set of groups, e.g. [[Native Hawaiians]], which it tabulates separately.<ref name=uscb>{{cite web|title=U.S. Census Bureau History: American Indians and Alaska Natives|url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/homepage_archive/2021/november_2021.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref> 

The [[European colonization of the Americas]] from 1492 resulted in a [[Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas|precipitous decline in the size of the Native American population]] because of [[Native American disease and epidemics|newly introduced diseases]], including weaponized diseases and biological warfare by colonizers,<ref name="Alibek 2004 pp. 3–8">{{cite journal | last=Alibek | first=Ken | title=Smallpox: a disease and a weapon | journal=International Journal of Infectious Diseases | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=8 | year=2004 | issn=1201-9712 | doi=10.1016/j.ijid.2004.09.004 | pages=3–8| pmid=15491869 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":7">[[Colonial Williamsburg]], ''CW Journal'' (Spring 2004), [https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/journal/Spring04/warfare.cfm "Colonial Germ Warfare"]</ref><ref name=":8">{{cite book |last1=Fenn |first1=Elizabeth A. |title=Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775–82 |date=2001 |publisher=Hill and Wang |isbn=080907821X |pages=88–89, 275–276 |edition=1st}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{cite journal |last1=Fenn |first1=Elizabeth A |title=Biological Warfare in Eighteenth-Century North America: Beyond Jeffrey Amherst |journal=Journal of American History |date=March 2000 |volume=86 |issue=4 |page=1553|doi=10.2307/2567577 |jstor=2567577 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Roland G. |title=Rotting Face: Smallpox and the American Indian |date=2001 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=0870044192 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/rottingfacesmall0000robe/page/119 119, 124] |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/rottingfacesmall0000robe/page/119}}</ref> [[American Indian Wars|wars]], [[ethnic cleansing]], and [[Slavery among Native Americans in the United States|enslavement]]. Numerous scholars have classified elements of the colonization process as comprising [[Native American genocide in the United States|genocide]] against Native Americans. As part of a policy of white [[settler colonialism]], European settlers continued to wage war and perpetrated massacres against Native American peoples, [[Indian removal|removed]] them from their [[ancestral lands]], and subjected them to [[List of United States treaties#U.S.–Native American treaties|one-sided government treaties]] and discriminatory government policies. Into the 20th century, these policies focused on forced [[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans|assimilation]].<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|first1=Patrick|last1=Wolfe|title=Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native|journal=Journal of Genocide Research|date=December 1, 2006|issn=1462-3528|pages=387–409|volume=8|issue=4|doi=10.1080/14623520601056240|s2cid=143873621|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite book|first1=W.|last1=Hixson|title=American Settler Colonialism: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiKuAgAAQBAJ|publisher=Springer|date=December 5, 2013|isbn=978-1-137-37426-4|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite book|first1=Laurelyn|last1=Whitt|first2=Alan W.|last2=Clarke|title=North American Genocides: Indigenous Nations, Settler Colonialism, and International Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7r0avgEACAAJ|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2019 |isbn=978-1-108-42550-6|via=Google Books}}</ref>

When the United States was established, Native American tribes were considered semi-independent nations, because they generally lived in communities which were separate from communities of [[White Americans|white]] [[settlers]]. The federal government signed treaties at a government-to-government level until the [[Indian Appropriations Act#1871 Act|Indian Appropriations Act of 1871]] ended recognition of independent Native nations, and started treating them as "domestic dependent nations" subject to applicable federal laws. This law did preserve rights and privileges, including a large degree of [[Tribal sovereignty in the United States|tribal sovereignty]]. For this reason, many Native American reservations are still independent of state law and the actions of tribal citizens on these reservations are subject only to tribal courts and federal law. The [[Indian Citizenship Act]] of 1924 granted US citizenship to all Native Americans born in the US who had not yet obtained it. This emptied the "Indians not taxed" category established by the [[United States Constitution]], allowed Natives to vote in elections, and extended the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] protections granted to people "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. However, some states continued to deny [[Native American voting rights|Native Americans voting rights]] for decades. Titles II through VII of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]] comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applies to Native American tribes and makes many but not all of the guarantees of the [[United States Bill of Rights|U.S. Bill of Rights]] applicable within the tribes.<ref>{{Cite web|title="Civil Rights Act of 1968" full text|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-343/pdf/COMPS-343.pdf|date=14 November 2018|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508013659/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-343/pdf/COMPS-343.pdf|archive-date=8 May 2020|access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref>

Since the 1960s, [[Native American self-determination]] movements have resulted in positive changes to the lives of many Native Americans, though there are still many [[Contemporary Native American issues in the United States|contemporary issues faced by them]]. Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the US, about 80% of whom live outside reservations. The states with the highest percentage of Native Americans are [[Alaska]], [[Oklahoma]], [[New Mexico]], [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], and [[North Dakota]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census |url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=2020 Census: Native population increased by 86.5 percent | newspaper=ICT News | date=August 13, 2021 | url=https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/2020-census-native-population-increased-by-86-5-percent | access-date=November 24, 2022}}</ref> 
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==Background==
[[File:North American cultural areas.png|thumb|The [[cultural area]]s of Indigenous peoples of [[North America]] during the [[Pre-Columbian era]], according to anthropologist [[Alfred Kroeber]]]] 

Beginning toward the end of the 15th century, the [[migration of Europeans to the Americas]] led to centuries of population, cultural, and agricultural transfer and adjustment between [[Old World|Old]] and [[New World]] societies, a process known as the [[Columbian exchange]]. Because most Native American groups had preserved [[Pre-Columbian era|their histories]] by means of [[oral tradition]]s and artwork, the [[Protohistory|first written accounts of the contact were provided by Europeans]].<ref name="test">Calloway, Colin G. [http://www.americanheritage.com/content/native-americans-first-view-whites-shore "Native Americans First View Whites from the Shore"]. ''American Heritage'', Spring 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2011</ref>

[[Ethnography|Ethnographers]] classify the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas#North America|Indigenous peoples of North America]] into ten geographical regions which are inhabited by groups of people who share certain [[cultural]] traits, called cultural areas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/etb0170e.shtml |title=Culture Areas Index |website=the Canadian Museum of Civilization}}</ref> The ten cultural areas are:{{cn|date=May 2024}}
* [[Alaska Natives|Arctic]], including [[Aleut]], [[Inuit]], and [[Yupik peoples]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic|Subarctic]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands|Northeastern Woodlands]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|Southeastern Woodlands]]
* [[Plains Indians|Great Plains]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin|Great Basin]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau|Northwest Plateau]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast|Northwest Coast]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of California|California]]
* [[Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest|Southwest]] ([[Oasisamerica]])

At the time of the first contact, the Indigenous cultures were different from those of the proto-industrial and mostly [[Christianity|Christian]] immigrants. Some Northeastern and Southwestern cultures, in particular, were [[matrilineal]] and they were organized and operated on a more collective basis than the culture which Europeans were familiar with. Most Indigenous American tribes treated their hunting grounds and agricultural lands as land that could be used by their entire tribe. Europeans had developed concepts of individual [[property rights]] with respect to land that were extremely different. The differences in cultures, as well as the shifting alliances among different nations during periods of warfare, caused extensive political tension, ethnic violence, and social disruption.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

Native Americans suffered high fatality rates from [[Native American disease and epidemics|contact with European diseases]] that were new to them, and to which they had not acquired [[immunity (medical)|immunity]].<ref name="mann"/> [[Smallpox epidemics in the Americas|Smallpox epidemics]] are thought to have caused the greatest loss of life for Indigenous populations. "The decline of native American populations was rapid and severe, probably the greatest demographic disaster ever. Old World diseases were the primary killer. In many regions, particularly the tropical lowlands, populations fell by 90 percent or more in the first century after the contact."<ref name="denevan"/><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1992.tb01965.x | volume=82 | issue=3 | title=The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492 | year=1992 | journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers | pages=369–385 | last1 = Denevan | first1 = William M.}}</ref>

Estimates of pre-Columbian population of the United States vary from 4 to 18&nbsp;million.<ref name="mann">{{cite web |url = https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/03/1491/302445/ |first = Charles C. |last = Mann|title= 1491|website =The Atlantic|date = March 2002}}</ref><ref name="denevan">[http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/%7Ealcoze/for398/class/pristinemyth.html William M. Denevan, "The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492"], posted at Northern Arizona University, published in Sept. 1992, ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers''</ref><ref name="encbrit">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1357826/Native-American/273135/North-America-and-Europe-circa-1492 |title=Native American |access-date=June 28, 2009 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9392931|title=Their number become thinned: native American population dynamics in eastern North America|date=April 8, 1983|publisher=Published by the University of Tennessee Press in cooperation with the Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian|oclc=9392931|via=Open WorldCat}}</ref> Jeffrey Ostler writes: "Most Indigenous communities were eventually afflicted by a variety of diseases, but in many cases this happened long after Europeans first arrived. When severe epidemics did hit, it was often less because Native bodies lack immunity than because European colonialism disrupted Native Communities and damaged their resources, making them more vulnerable to pathogens."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ostler |first=Jeffrey |title=Surviving Genocide : Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas |publisher=New Haven Yale University Press |year=2019}}</ref>

After the [[Thirteen Colonies|thirteen British colonies]] revolted against [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and established the United States, [[U.S. President|President]] [[George Washington]] and [[U.S. Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Henry Knox]] conceived the idea of "[[Civilizing mission|civilizing]]" Native Americans in preparation for their assimilation as U.S. citizens.<ref name="perdue">{{Cite book|last=Perdue|first=Theda|title=Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South|publisher=The University of Georgia Press|chapter=Chapter 2 "Both White and Red"|page=51|isbn=978-0-8203-2731-0|year=2003}}</ref><ref name="remini_submit_adoption">{{Cite book|last=Remini|first=Robert|title=Andrew Jackson|publisher=History Book Club|chapter=Brothers, Listen&nbsp;... You Must Submit|page=258|isbn=978-0-06-080132-8|orig-year=1977|year=1998}}</ref><ref name="eric_miller">{{cite web|url=http://www.dreric.org/library/northwest.shtml|title=George Washington and Indians, Washington and the Northwest War, Part One|access-date=May 2, 2008|last=Miller|first=Eric|year=1994|publisher=Eric Miller}}</ref><ref name="Tom_Jewett">{{cite web|url=http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2002_summer_fall/tj_views.htm|title=Thomas Jefferson's Views Concerning Native Americans|access-date=February 17, 2009|first=Tom|last=Jewett|year=1996–2009|publisher=Archiving America}}</ref> Assimilation, whether it was voluntary, as it was with the [[Choctaw]],<ref name="us_congress2">{{Cite news|title=An Indian Candidate for Congress|publisher=Christian Mirror and N.H. Observer, Shirley, Hyde & Co.|date=July 15, 1830}}</ref><ref name="us_citizenship">{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cho0310.htm|title=Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties Vol. II, Treaties|access-date=April 16, 2008|first=Charles|last=Kappler|year=1904|publisher=Government Printing Office|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517182743/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cho0310.htm|archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> or [[Forced assimilation|forced]], was consistently maintained as a matter of policy by consecutive American administrations. 

During the 19th century, the ideology known as [[manifest destiny]] became integral to the American nationalist movement. Westward expansion of [[European Americans|European American]] populations after the [[American Revolution]] resulted in increasing pressure on Native Americans and their lands, warfare, and rising tensions. In 1830, the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] passed the [[Indian Removal Act]], authorizing the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] to relocate Native Americans from their homelands within established states to lands west of the [[Mississippi River]], in order to accommodate continued European American expansion. This resulted in what amounted to the [[ethnic cleansing]] or [[genocide]] of many tribes, who were subjected to brutal [[death march|forced marches]]. The most infamous of these came to be known as the [[Trail of Tears]].

Contemporary Native Americans have a unique relationship with the United States because they may be members of nations, tribes, or bands that have [[sovereignty]] and [[treaty rights]] upon which federal Indian law and a federal Indian trust relationship are based.<ref name="BIA">[https://www.bia.gov/frequently-asked-questions U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs], Native American Faculty and Staff Association News. University of California, Davis. Accessed October 25, 2011.</ref> Cultural activism since the late 1960s has increased the participation of Indigenous peoples in American politics. It has also led to expanded efforts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages for younger generations, and to establish a more robust cultural infrastructure: Native Americans have founded independent newspapers and online media outlets, including [[First Nations Experience]], the first Native American television channel;<ref name="NATV">[http://nafsa.ucdavis.edu/NAFSA%20News.html "FNX: First Nations Experience Television"], Native American Faculty and Staff Association News. University of California, Davis. Accessed October 25, 2011.</ref> established [[Native American studies]] programs, tribal schools [[tribal colleges and universities|universities]], museums, and language programs. Literature is at the growing forefront of American Indian studies in many genres, with the notable exception of fiction—some traditional American Indians experience fictional narratives as insulting when they conflict with traditional oral tribal narratives.<ref name="NAP">{{Cite book|url=https://www.nap.edu/read/9599/chapter/6|title=Read "America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences: Volume I" at NAP.edu|year=2001|publisher=National Academies Press |doi=10.17226/9599|isbn=978-0-309-06838-3|via=www.nap.edu}}</ref>

The terms used to refer to Native Americans [[Native American name controversy|have at times been controversial]]. The ways Native Americans refer to themselves vary by region and generation, with many older{{fact|date=December 2023}} Native Americans self-identifying as "Indians" or "American Indians", while younger{{fact|date=December 2023}} Native Americans often identify as "Indigenous" or "Aboriginal". The term "Native American" has not traditionally included [[Native Hawaiians]] or certain [[Alaskan Natives]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Reporter's Indigenous Terminology Guide|publisher=Native American Journalists Association|url=http://www.naja.com/reporter-s-indigenous-terminology-guide/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116050310/https://www.naja.com/reporter-s-indigenous-terminology-guide/|archive-date=November 16, 2018|quote=Over time, Native American has been expanded[...]some in Alaska.}} - The absence of Hawaiian and other Alaskan groups implies that it does not include them.</ref> such as [[Aleut people|Aleut]], [[Yupik peoples|Yup'ik]], or [[Inuit]] peoples. By comparison, the [[Indigenous peoples of Canada]] are generally known as [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]], [[Inuit]] and [[Métis]] ([[FNIM]]).{{fact|date=December 2023}}

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==History==
{{Main|History of Native Americans in the United States|Population history of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas}} 
[[File:Peopling of America through Beringia.png|thumb|A map showing the approximate location of the [[ice-free corridor]] and [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian]] settlements during the era of [[Clovis culture]]]]
[[File:Shriver Circle & Mound City solstice sunrise HRoe 2019sm.jpg|thumb|[[Shriver Circle Earthworks]] and the [[Mound City Group]] (on the left), {{Circa|200 BCE}} to {{Circa|500 CE}}, depicted in a 2019 portrait]]

The history of Native Americans in the United States began before the founding of the U.S., tens of thousands of years ago with the [[settlement of the Americas]] by the [[Paleo-Indians]]. The Eurasian migration to the Americas occurred over millennia via [[Beringia]], a land bridge between [[Siberia]] and [[Alaska]], as early humans spread southward and eastward, forming distinct cultures and societies. Archaeological evidence suggests these migrations began 60,000 years ago and continued until around 12,000 years ago. Some may have arrived even before this time fishing in kayaks along what is known as the "[[Jon_M._Erlandson#Kelp_Highway_Hypothesis:_The_Peopling_of_the_New_World|Kelp Highway]]".  The early inhabitants by land were classified as [[Paleo-Indians]], who spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into numerous culturally distinct nations. Major Paleo-Indian cultures included the [[Clovis culture|Clovis]] and [[Folsom tradition|Folsom traditions]], identified through unique spear points and large-game hunting methods, especially during the [[Lithic stage]].

Around 8000 BCE, as the climate stabilized, new cultural periods like the [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic stage]] arose, during which hunter-gatherer communities developed complex societies across North America. The [[Mound Builders]] created large earthworks, such as at [[Watson Brake]] and [[Poverty Point]], which date to 3500 BCE and 2200 BCE, respectively, indicating early social and organizational complexity. By 1000 BCE, Native societies in the [[Woodland period]] developed advanced social structures and trade networks, with the [[Hopewell tradition]] connecting the Eastern Woodlands to the [[Great Lakes]] and the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. This period led to the [[Mississippian culture]], with large urban centers like [[Cahokia]]—a city with complex mounds and a population exceeding 20,000 by 1250 CE.

From the 15th century onward, European contact drastically reshaped the Americas. Explorers and settlers introduced diseases, causing massive Indigenous population declines, and engaged in violent conflicts with Native groups. By the 19th century, westward U.S. expansion, rationalized by [[Manifest destiny]], pressured tribes into forced relocations like the [[Trail of Tears]], which decimated communities and redefined Native territories. Despite resistance in events like the [[Sioux Uprising]] and [[Battle of Little Bighorn]], Native American lands continued to be reduced through policies like the [[Indian Removal Act]] of 1830 and later the [[Dawes Act]], which undermined communal landholding.

[[File:GreenoughRescue.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[The Rescue (sculpture)|The Rescue]]'' sculpture stood outside the [[U.S. Capitol]] between 1853 and 1958. Commissioned by the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]], its sculptor [[Horatio Greenough]] wrote that it was "to convey the idea of the triumph of the whites over the savage tribes".<ref>[[Albert Boime|Boime, Albert]] (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=24Hgr0U8K3QC&dq=Rescue+AND+Greenough&pg=PA527 A Social History of Modern Art, Volume 2: Art in an Age of Counterrevolution, 1815–1848], (Series: Social History of Modern Art); [[University of Chicago Press]], p. 527.</ref>]]
A justification for the policy of conquest and subjugation of the Indigenous people emanated from the stereotyped perceptions of Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages" (as described in the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Out West|date=2000|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|page=96}}</ref> Sam Wolfson in ''[[The Guardian]]'' writes, "The declaration's passage has often been cited as an encapsulation of the dehumanizing attitude toward Indigenous Americans that the US was founded on."<ref>{{cite news |title=Facebook labels declaration of independence as 'hate speech' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/05/facebook-declaration-of-independence-hate-speech |access-date=August 7, 2019 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Native American nations on the plains in the west continued armed conflicts with the U.S. throughout the 19th century, through what were called generally [[American Indian Wars|Indian Wars]].<ref>Thornton, Russell (1990). [https://archive.org/details/americanindianho00thor_0 ''American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History since 1492'']. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 48. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-2220-5}}</ref> Notable conflicts in this period include the [[Dakota War of 1862|Dakota War]], [[Great Sioux War of 1876|Great Sioux War]], [[Snake War]], [[Colorado War]], and [[Texas-Indian Wars]]. Expressing the frontier anti-Indian sentiment, Theodore Roosevelt believed the Indians were destined to vanish under the pressure of white civilization, stating in an 1886 lecture:

{{blockquote|I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.<ref name="Carney">Cary Michael Carney (1999). "Native American Higher Education in the United States". pp. 65–66. Transaction Publications</ref>}}

[[File:Woundedknee1891.jpg|thumb|A [[mass grave]] for the dead [[Lakota people|Lakota]] after the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]], which took place on December 29, 1890, during the [[American Indian Wars|Indian Wars]]]]
One of the last and most notable events during the Indian wars was the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]] in 1890.<ref name="Wounded Knee"/> In the years leading up to it the U.S. government had continued to seize [[Lakota people|Lakota]] lands. A [[Ghost Dance]] ritual on the Northern Lakota reservation at Wounded Knee, [[South Dakota]], led to the U.S. Army's attempt to subdue the Lakota. The dance was part of a religious movement founded by the [[Northern Paiute]] spiritual leader [[Wovoka]] that told of the return of the Messiah to relieve the suffering of Native Americans and promised that if they would live righteous lives and perform the Ghost Dance properly, the European American colonists would vanish, the bison would return, and the living and the dead would be reunited in an [[Garden of Eden|Eden]]<nowiki/>ic world.<ref name="Wounded Knee"/> On December 29 at Wounded Knee, gunfire erupted, and U.S. soldiers killed up to 300 Indians, mostly old men, women, and children.<ref name="Wounded Knee">{{cite web|title=Plains Humanities: Wounded Knee Massacre|url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.056|access-date=August 9, 2016|publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln}}</ref>

Days after the massacre, the author [[L. Frank Baum]] wrote:
{{blockquote|The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/baumedts.htm |title="L. Frank Baum's Editorials on the Sioux Nation" |accessdate=2007-12-09 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209193251/http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/baumedts.htm |archivedate=2007-12-09 }} Full text of both, with commentary by professor A. Waller Hastings</ref>}}

In the 20th century, Native Americans served in significant numbers during World War II, marking a turning point for Indigenous visibility and involvement in broader American society. Post-war, Native activism grew, with movements such as the [[American Indian Movement]] (AIM) drawing attention to Indigenous rights. Landmark legislation like the [[Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act]] of 1975 recognized tribal autonomy, leading to the establishment of Native-run schools and economic initiatives. Tribal sovereignty has continued to evolve, with legal victories and federal acknowledgments supporting cultural revitalization.

By the 21st century, Native Americans had achieved increased control over tribal lands and resources, although many communities continue to grapple with the legacy of displacement and economic challenges. Urban migration has also grown, with over 70% of Native Americans residing in cities by 2012, navigating issues of cultural preservation and discrimination. Continuing legal and social efforts address these concerns, building on centuries of resilience and adaptation that characterize Indigenous history across the Americas.

==Demographics==
{{Further|Modern social statistics of Native Americans}}
{{See also|Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}
[[File:Indigenous Americans by state.svg|thumb|upright=2|<div style="text-align: center">Proportion of Indigenous Americans (including Native Hawaiians) in each U.S. state, [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Puerto Rico]] as of the [[2020 United States census|2020 U.S. census]]</div>]]
[[File:Indigenous Americans by county.png|thumb|upright=2|<div style="text-align: center">Proportion of Indigenous Americans (Including Native Hawaiians) in each county of the [[List of states and territories of the United States|fifty states]], [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Puerto Rico]] as of the [[2020 United States census]]</div>]]
[[File:American Indian and Alaskan Native population pyramid in 2020.svg|thumb|The American Indian and Alaskan Native (alone/single race) populations as of 2020]]

According to the 2020 census, the U.S. population was 331.4 million. Of this, 3.7 million people, or 1.1 percent, reported American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry alone. In addition, 5.9 million people (1.8 percent), reported American Indian or Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races.<ref>{{cite web|title=P1 RACE|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=P1%3A%20RACE&g=0100000US&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P1|publisher=U.S. Census|access-date=August 11, 2022}}</ref>

The definition of American Indian or Alaska Native used in the 2010 census was as follows:

<blockquote>According to Office of Management and Budget, "American Indian or Alaska Native" refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.<ref name="2010 Census AMAN">{{cite web|title=The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf|publisher=U.S. Census|access-date=2010-06-02|first1=Tina |last1=Norris |first2=Paula L. |last2=Vines |first3=Elizabeth M. |last3=Hoeffel|date=January 2012}}</ref></blockquote>

Despite generally referring to groups indigenous to the continental US and Alaska, this demographic as defined by the US Census Bureau includes all [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous people of the Americas]], including [[Mesoamerica|Mesoamerican]] peoples such as the [[Maya peoples|Maya]], as well as [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Canadian]] and [[Indigenous peoples of South America|South American natives]].<ref>{{cite web|author=United States Census Bureau|title=About the Topic of Race|url=https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html|access-date=2024-06-29|website=Census.gov}}</ref> In 2022, 634,503 Indigenous people in the United States identified with Central American Indigenous groups, 875,183 identified with the [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Indigenous people of Mexico]], and 47,518 identified with Canadian [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Grid View: Table B02017 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02017&geo_ids=01000US&primary_geo_id=01000US |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> Of the 3.2 million Americans who identified as American Indian or Alaska Native alone in 2022, around 45% are of [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] ethnicity, with this number growing as increasing numbers of Indigenous people from Latin American countries immigrate to the US and more Latinos self-identify with indigenous heritage.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grid View: Table B03002 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B03002&geo_ids=01000US&primary_geo_id=01000US |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> Of groups Indigenous to the United States, the largest self-reported tribes are [[Cherokee]] (1,449,888), [[Navajo]] (434,910), [[Choctaw]] (295,373), [[Blackfeet Nation|Blackfeet]] (288,255), [[Sioux]] (220,739), and [[Apache]] (191,823).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B02017 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02017&geo_ids=01000US&primary_geo_id=01000US |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> 205,954 respondents specified an [[Alaska Natives|Alaska Native]] identity. 

[[Native Hawaiians]] are counted separately from Native Americans by the census, being classified as [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islanders]]. According to 2022 estimates, 714,847 Americans reported Native Hawaiian ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grid View: Table B02019 - Census Reporter |url=https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B02019&geo_ids=01000US&primary_geo_id=01000US#valueType%7Cestimate |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=censusreporter.org}}</ref> 

The 2010 census permitted respondents to self-identify as being of one or more races. Self-identification dates from the census of 1960; prior to that the race of the respondent was determined by the opinion of the census taker. The option to select more than one race was introduced in 2000.<ref name="Newest Indians">{{cite news|title=The Newest Indians|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F17FD3A580C728EDDA10894DD404482|access-date=June 2, 2012|work=The New York Times Magazine|date=August 21, 2005|first=Jack|last=Hitt}}</ref> If American Indian or Alaska Native was selected, the form requested the individual provide the name of the "enrolled or principal tribe".

===Population since 1880===
Censuses counted around 346,000 Native Americans in 1880 (including 33,000 in Alaska and 82,000 in Oklahoma, back then known as [[Indian Territory]]), around 274,000 in 1890 (including 25,500 in Alaska and 64,500 in Oklahoma), 362,500 in 1930 and 366,500 in 1940, including those on and off reservations in the 48 states and Alaska. Native American population rebounded sharply from 1950, when they numbered 377,273; it reached 551,669 in 1960, 827,268 in 1970, with an annual growth rate of 5%, four times the national average.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosenthal |first=Jack |date=1971-10-20 |title=1970 Census Finds Indian No Longer the Vanishing American |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/20/archives/1970-census-finds-indian-no-longer-the-vanishing-american.html |accessdate=2023-02-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Total spending on Native Americans averaged $38 million a year in the late 1920s, dropping to a low of $23 million in 1933, and returning to $38&nbsp;million in 1940. The [[Bureau of Indian Affairs|Office of Indian Affairs]] counted more American Indians than the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]] until 1930:
{| class="wikitable"
|+American Indians according to the Census Bureau and the Office of Indian Affairs 1890-1930
!Decade
!American Indians, Census Bureau
!American Indians, Office of Indian Affairs
!Alaska Natives
|-
|1890
|248,253
|249,278
|25,354
|-
|1900
|237,196
|270,544
|29,536
|-
|1910
|265,683
|304,950
|25,331
|-
|1920
|244,437
|336,337
|26,558
|-
|1930
|332,397
|340,541
|29,983
|}
American Indians and Alaska Natives as percentage of the total population between 1880 and 2020:
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:right"
|+American Indian and Alaska Native as percentage of population by U.S. state and territory (1880–2020)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |title=Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States |website=Census.gov |access-date=January 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2000 |url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-15.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330042301/https://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/c2kbr01-15.pdf |archive-date=March 30, 2016 |access-date=August 9, 2016 |website=Census.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=February 20, 2013|title=State and County QuickFacts|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304192030/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html|archive-date=March 4, 2012|access-date=June 16, 2013|website=Quickfacts.census.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=August 12, 2021|title=Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census|url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html |access-date=December 3, 2021|website=Census.gov|language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZadCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA23 |title=Report on Indians taxed and Indians not taxed in the United States (except Alaska) |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1894 |pages=23–24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=George W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQyOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 |title=The Future of Alaska: Economic Consequences of Statehood |publisher=RFF Press |year=2011 |location=New York, London |pages=61, 75|isbn=9781135999469 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sex, General Nativity, And Color |url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/33405927v1ch09.pdf |access-date=29 March 2022 |website=census.gov |pages=486–487}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMFRAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA853 |title=Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1886 |volume=II |location=Washington |pages=853–861}}</ref>
|-
!scope="col"| State/Territory
!1880
!scope="col"| 1890
!scope="col"| 1900
!scope="col"| 1910
!scope="col"| 1920
!scope="col"| 1930
!scope="col"| 1940
!scope="col"| 1950
!scope="col"| 1960
!scope="col"| 1970
!scope="col"| 1980
!scope="col"| 1990
!scope="col"| 2000
!scope="col"| 2010
!scope="col"| 2020
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Alabama}} [[Alabama]]
|0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Alaska}} [[Alaska]]
|98.7%
| 79.1%
| 46.5%
| 39.4%
| 48.3%
| 50.6%
| 44.8%
| 26.3%
| 19.1%
| 16.8%
| 16.0%
| 15.6%
| 15.6%
| 14.8%
| 21.9%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Arizona}} [[Arizona]]
|37.5%
| 34.0%
| 21.5%
| 14.3%
| 9.9%
| 10.0%
| 11.0%
| 8.8%
| 6.4%
| 5.4%
| 5.6%
| 5.6%
| 5.0%
| 4.6%
| 6.3%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Arkansas}} [[Arkansas]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.7%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|California}} [[California]]
|2.4%
| 1.4%
| 1.0%
| 0.7%
| 0.5%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.5%
| 0.9%
| 0.8%
| 1.0%
| 1.0%
| 1.6%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Colorado}} [[Colorado]]
|1.4%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.2%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 1.0%
| 1.1%
| 1.3%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Connecticut}} [[Connecticut]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Delaware}} [[Delaware]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.5%
| 0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| {{Flag| Florida}}
|0.3%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Georgia (U.S. state)}} [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Hawaii}} [[Hawaii]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.3%
| 0.5%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Idaho}} [[Idaho]]
|10.0%
| 4.8%
| 2.6%
| 1.1%
| 0.7%
| 0.8%
| 0.7%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 1.1%
| 1.4%
| 1.4%
| 1.4%
| 1.4%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Illinois}} [[Illinois]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.8%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Indiana}} [[Indiana]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Iowa}} [[Iowa]]
|0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Kansas}} [[Kansas]]
|0.2%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.4%
| 0.7%
| 0.9%
| 0.9%
| 1.0%
| 1.1%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Kentucky}} [[Kentucky]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Louisiana}} [[Louisiana]]
|0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
| 0.7%
|-
!scope="row"| {{Flag| Maine}}
|0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 0.6%
| 0.6%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Maryland}} [[Maryland]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Massachusetts}} [[Massachusetts]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Michigan}} [[Michigan]]
|1.1%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.2%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.6%
| 0.6%
| 0.6%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Minnesota}} [[Minnesota]]
|1.1%
| 0.8%
| 0.5%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 0.9%
| 1.1%
| 1.1%
| 1.1%
| 1.2%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Mississippi}} [[Mississippi]]
|0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Missouri}} [[Missouri]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Montana}} [[Montana]]
|38.3%
| 7.8%
| 4.7%
| 0.8%
| 2.0%
| 2.8%
| 3.0%
| 2.8%
| 3.1%
| 3.9%
| 4.7%
| 6.0%
| 6.2%
| 6.3%
| 9.3%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Nebraska}} [[Nebraska]]
|1.0%
| 0.6%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 1.2%
| 1.2%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|Nevada}} [[Nevada]]
|13.9%
| 10.9%
| 12.3%
| 6.4%
| 6.3%
| 5.3%
| 4.3%
| 3.1%
| 2.3%
| 1.6%
| 1.7%
| 1.6%
| 1.3%
| 1.2%
| 1.4%
|-
!scope="row"| {{Flag| New Hampshire}}
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|New Jersey}} [[New Jersey]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.6%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|New Mexico}} [[New Mexico]]
|23.2%
| 9.4%
| 6.7%
| 6.3%
| 5.4%
| 6.8%
| 6.5%
| 6.2%
| 5.9%
| 7.2%
| 8.1%
| 8.9%
| 9.5%
| 9.4%
| 12.4%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|New York}} [[New York (state)|New York]]
|0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|North Carolina}} [[North Carolina]]
|0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 0.1%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 1.1%
| 1.2%
| 1.2%
| 1.3%
| 1.2%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|North Dakota}} [[North Dakota]]
|13.0%
| 4.3%
| 2.2%
| 1.1%
| 1.0%
| 1.2%
| 1.6%
| 1.7%
| 1.9%
| 2.3%
| 3.1%
| 4.1%
| 4.9%
| 5.4%
| 7.2%
|-
!scope="row"| {{flagicon|South Dakota}} [[South Dakota]]
|20.6%
| 5.7%
| 5.0%
| 3.3%
| 2.6%
| 3.2%
| 3.6%
| 3.6%
| 3.8%
| 4.9%
| 6.5%
| 7.3%
| 8.3%
| 8.8%
| 11.1%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Ohio}} [[Ohio]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Oklahoma}} [[Oklahoma]]
|100.0%
| 24.9%
| 8.2%
| 4.5%
| 2.8%
| 3.9%
| 2.7%
| 2.4%
| 2.8%
| 3.8%
| 5.6%
| 8.0%
| 7.9%
| 8.6%
| 16.0%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Oregon}} [[Oregon]]
|3.5%
| 1.6%
| 1.2%
| 0.8%
| 0.6%
| 0.5%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 1.0%
| 1.4%
| 1.3%
| 1.4%
| 4.4%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Pennsylvania}} [[Pennsylvania]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Rhode Island}} [[Rhode Island]]
|0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|South Carolina}} [[South Carolina]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Tennessee}} [[Tennessee]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Texas}} [[Texas]]
|0.1%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
| 1.0%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Utah}} [[Utah]]
|0.9%
| 1.6%
| 0.9%
| 0.8%
| 0.6%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 1.1%
| 1.3%
| 1.4%
| 1.3%
| 1.2%
| 1.3%
|-
! scope="row" | {{Flag|Vermont}}
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Virginia}} [[Virginia]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Washington}} [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
|20.8%
| 3.1%
| 1.9%
| 1.0%
| 0.7%
| 0.7%
| 0.7%
| 0.6%
| 0.7%
| 1.0%
| 1.5%
| 1.7%
| 1.6%
| 1.5%
| 4.1%
|-
! scope="row" | {{Flag| West Virginia}}
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Wisconsin}} [[Wisconsin]]
|0.8%
| 0.6%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 1.0%
| 1.0%
|-
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|Wyoming}} [[Wyoming]]
|9.6%
| 2.9%
| 1.8%
| 1.0%
| 0.7%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 1.1%
| 1.2%
| 1.5%
| 1.5%
| 2.1%
| 2.3%
| 2.4%
| 4.8%
|- style="background:lightgreen;"
! scope="row" | {{flagicon|District of Columbia}} [[Washington, D.C.]]
|0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.0%
| 0.1%
| 0.1%
| 0.2%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.5%
|- style="background:beige;"
! scope="row" | {{Flag| Puerto Rico}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.5%
|- style="background:#D0E6FF; font-weight:bold"
! scope="row" | '''{{USA}}'''
|0.7%
| 0.4%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 0.9%
| 1.1%
|}
Absolute numbers of American Indians and Alaska Natives between 1880 and 2020 (since 1890 according to the [[United States Census Bureau|Census Bureau]]):
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+American Indian and Alaska Native population by U.S. state and territory (1880–2020)
!State/Territory
!1880
!1890
!1900
!1910
!1920
!1930
!1940
!1950
!1960
!1970
!1980
!1990
!2000
!2010
!2020
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Alabama}} [[Alabama]]
|213
|1143
|177
|909
|405
|465
|464
|928
|1276
|2443
|9239
|16506
|22430
|28218
|33625
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Alaska}} [[Alaska]]
|32996
|25354
|29536
|25331
|26558
|29983
|32458
|33863
|42522
|50814
|64103
|85698
|98043
|104871
|111575
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Arizona}} [[Arizona]]
|22199
|29981
|26480
|29201
|32989
|43726
|55076
|65761
|83387
|95812
|154175
|203527
|255879
|296529
|319512
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Arkansas}} [[Arkansas]]
|195
|250
|66
|460
|106
|408
|278
|533
|580
|2014
|12713
|12773
|17808
|22248
|27177
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|California}} [[California]]
|20385
|16624
|15377
|16371
|17360
|19212
|18675
|19947
|39014
|91018
|227757
|242164
|333346
|362801
|631016
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Colorado}} [[Colorado]]
|2684
|1092
|1437
|1482
|1383
|1395
|1360
|1567
|4288
|8836
|20682
|27776
|44241
|56010
|74129
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Connecticut}} [[Connecticut]]
|255
|228
|153
|152
|159
|162
|201
|333
|923
|2222
|4822
|6654
|9639
|11256
|16051
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Delaware}} [[Delaware]]
|5
|4
|9
|5
|2
|5
|14
|0
|597
|656
|1380
|2019
|2731
|4181
|5148
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Florida}} [[Florida]]
|780 {{refn|In Florida in 1880 there were reported 180 taxed Indians and 600 inhabitants of unknown race, possibly also Indians.|group=Note}}
|171
|358
|74
|518
|587
|690
|1011
|2504
|6677
|24714
|36335
|53541
|71458
|94795
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Georgia (U.S. state)}} [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|124
|68
|19
|95
|125
|43
|106
|333
|749
|2347
|9876
|13348
|21737
|32151
|50618
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Hawaii}} [[Hawaii]]
|0
|0
|0
|0
|0
|0
|0
|0
|472
|1126
|2833
|5099
|3535
|4164
|4370
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Idaho}} [[Idaho]]
|3585
|4223
|4226
|3488
|3098
|3638
|3537
|3800
|5231
|6687
|10405
|13780
|17645
|21441
|25621
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Illinois}} [[Illinois]]
|140
|98
|16
|188
|194
|469
|624
|1443
|4704
|11413
|19118
|21836
|31006
|43963
|96498
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Indiana}} [[Indiana]]
|246
|343
|243
|279
|125
|285
|223
|438
|948
|3887
|9495
|12720
|15815
|18462
|26086
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Iowa}} [[Iowa]]
|821
|457
|382
|471
|529
|660
|733
|1084
|1708
|2992
|6311
|7349
|8989
|11084
|14486
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Kansas}} [[Kansas]]
|1499
|1682
|2130
|2444
|2276
|2454
|1165
|2381
|5069
|8672
|17829
|21965
|24936
|28150
|30995
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Kentucky}} [[Kentucky]]
|50
|71
|102
|234
|57
|22
|44
|234
|391
|1531
|4497
|5769
|8616
|10120
|12801
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Louisiana}} [[Louisiana]]
|848
|628
|593
|780
|1069
|1536
|1801
|409
|3587
|5294
|12841
|18541
|25477
|30579
|31657
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Maine}} [[Maine]]
|625
|559
|798
|892
|830
|1012
|1251
|1522
|1879
|2195
|4360
|5998
|7098
|8568
|7885
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Maryland}} [[Maryland]]
|15
|44
|3
|55
|32
|50
|73
|314
|1538
|4239
|8946
|12972
|15423
|20420
|31845
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Massachusetts}} [[Massachusetts]]
|369
|428
|587
|688
|555
|874
|769
|1201
|2118
|4475
|8996
|12241
|15015
|18850
|24018
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Michigan}} [[Michigan]]
|17390
|5625
|6354
|7519
|5614
|7080
|6282
|7000
|9701
|16854
|44712
|55638
|58479
|62007
|61261
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Minnesota}} [[Minnesota]]
|8498
|10096
|9182
|9053
|8761
|11077
|12528
|12533
|15496
|23128
|36527
|49909
|54967
|60916
|68641
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Mississippi}} [[Mississippi]]
|1857
|2036
|2203
|1253
|1105
|1458
|2134
|2502
|3119
|4113
|6836
|8525
|11652
|15030
|16450
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Missouri}} [[Missouri]]
|113
|128
|130
|313
|171
|578
|330
|547
|1723
|5405
|14820
|19835
|25076
|27376
|30518
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Montana}} [[Montana]]
|23313
|11206
|11343
|10745
|10956
|14798
|16841
|16606
|21181
|27130
|37623
|47679
|56068
|62555
|67612
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Nebraska}} [[Nebraska]]
|4541
|6431
|3322
|3502
|2888
|3256
|3401
|3954
|5545
|6624
|9059
|12410
|14896
|18427
|23102
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Nevada}} [[Nevada]]
|9603
|5156
|5216
|5240
|4907
|4871
|4747
|5025
|6681
|7933
|14256
|19637
|26420
|32062
|43932
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|New Hampshire}} [[New Hampshire]]
|63
|16
|22
|34
|28
|64
|50
|74
|135
|361
|1342
|2134
|2964
|3150
|3031
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|New Jersey}} [[New Jersey]]
|74
|84
|63
|168
|106
|213
|211
|621
|1699
|4706
|10028
|14970
|19492
|29026
|51186
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|New Mexico}} [[New Mexico]]
|33224
|15044
|13144
|20573
|19512
|28941
|34510
|41901
|56255
|72788
|106585
|134355
|173483
|193222
|212241
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|New York}} [[New York (state)|New York]]
|5958
|6044
|5257
|6046
|5503
|6973
|8651
|10640
|16491
|28355
|43508
|62651
|82461
|106906
|149690
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|North Carolina}} [[North Carolina]]
|1230
|1516
|5687
|7851
|11824
|16579
|22546
|3742
|38129
|44406
|65808
|80155
|99551
|122110
|130032
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|North Dakota}} [[North Dakota]]
|8329
|8174
|6968
|6486
|6254
|8387
|10114
|10766
|11736
|14369
|19905
|25917
|31329
|36591
|38914
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Ohio}} [[Ohio]]
|130
|206
|42
|127
|151
|435
|338
|1146
|1910
|6654
|15300
|20358
|24486
|25292
|30720
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Oklahoma}} [[Oklahoma]]
|82334 {{refn|For Oklahoma one count reported 76585 Indians in 1880 (including 59187 in [[Five Civilized Tribes]]), another count reported 79769 or 79469 (including 64000 in Five Civilized Tribes) and yet another reported 82334 (including 64000 in Five Civilized Tribes) as of 1884.|group=Note}}
|64456
|64445
|74825
|57337
|92725
|63125
|53769
|64689
|98468
|171092
|252420
|273230
|321687
|332791
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Oregon}} [[Oregon]]
|6249
|4971
|4951
|5090
|4590
|4776
|4594
|5820
|8026
|13510
|29783
|38496
|45211
|53203
|62993
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Pennsylvania}} [[Pennsylvania]]
|184
|1081
|1639
|1503
|337
|523
|441
|1141
|2122
|5533
|10928
|14733
|18348
|26843
|31052
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Rhode Island}} [[Rhode Island]]
|77
|180
|35
|284
|110
|318
|196
|385
|932
|1390
|3186
|4071
|5121
|6058
|7385
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|South Carolina}} [[South Carolina]]
|131
|173
|121
|331
|304
|959
|1234
|554
|1098
|2241
|6655
|8246
|13718
|19524
|24303
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|South Dakota}} [[South Dakota]]
|20230
|19854
|20225
|19137
|16384
|21833
|23347
|23344
|25794
|32365
|45525
|50575
|62283
|71817
|77748
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Tennessee}} [[Tennessee]]
|352
|146
|108
|216
|56
|161
|114
|339
|638
|2276
|6946
|10039
|15152
|19994
|28044
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Texas}} [[Texas]]
|992
|708
|470
|702
|2109
|1001
|1103
|2736
|5750
|17957
|50296
|65877
|118362
|170972
|278948
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Utah}} [[Utah]]
|1257
|3456
|2623
|3123
|2711
|2869
|3611
|4201
|6961
|11273
|19994
|24283
|29684
|32927
|41644
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Vermont}} [[Vermont]]
|11
|34
|5
|26
|24
|36
|16
|30
|57
|229
|1041
|1696
|2420
|2207
|2289
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Virginia}} [[Virginia]]
|85
|349
|354
|539
|824
|779
|198
|1056
|2155
|4853
|9867
|15282
|21172
|29225
|40007
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Washington}} [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
|18594
|11181
|10039
|10997
|9061
|11253
|11394
|13816
|21076
|33386
|61233
|81483
|93301
|103869
|121468
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|West Virginia}} [[West Virginia]]
|29
|9
|12
|36
|7
|18
|25
|160
|181
|751
|2317
|2458
|3606
|3787
|3706
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Wisconsin}} [[Wisconsin]]
|10798
|9930
|8372
|10142
|9611
|11548
|12265
|12196
|14297
|18924
|30553
|39387
|47228
|54526
|60428
|-
|scope="row"| {{flagicon|Wyoming}} [[Wyoming]]
|2203
|1844
|1686
|1486
|1343
|1845
|2349
|3237
|4020
|4980
|8192
|9479
|11133
|13336
|13898
|-
|scope="row" | {{flagicon|District of Columbia}} [[Washington, D.C.]]
|5
|25
|22
|68
|37
|40
|190
|330
|587
|956
|986
|1466
|1713
|2079
|3193
|- style="background:#D0E6FF; font-weight:bold"
! scope="row" | '''{{USA}}'''
|345,888
|273,607
|266,732
|291,014
|270,995
|362,380
|366,427
|377,273
|551,669
|827,268
|1,519,995
|1,959,234
|2,475,956
|2,932,248
|3,727,135
|}
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

===Population distribution===
[[File:Americanindiansmapcensusbureau.gif|thumb|upright=2|This [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]] map depicts the locations of differing Native American groups, including [[Indian reservations]], as of 2000; present-day [[Oklahoma]] in the [[Southwestern United States]], which was once designated as an [[Indian Territory]] before Oklahoma's statehood in 1907, is highlighted in blue.]]

78% of Native Americans live outside a reservation. Full-blood individuals are more likely to live on a reservation than mixed-blood individuals. The [[Navajo people|Navajo]], with 286,000 full-blood individuals, is the largest tribe if only full-blood individuals are counted; the Navajo are the tribe with the highest proportion of full-blood individuals, 86.3%. The [[Cherokee]] have a different history; it is the largest tribe, with 819,000 individuals, and it has 284,000 full-blood individuals.<ref name=Navajo2010>{{cite news|title=Census: Native count jumps by 27 percent|url=http://navajotimes.com/news/2012/0112/012612census.php|access-date=June 2, 2012|work=The Navajo Times|date=January 26, 2012|first=Cindy|last=Yurth|agency=Tsé;yi' Bureau}}</ref>

====Urban migration====
{{further|Urban Indian}}

As of 2012, 70% of Native Americans live in urban areas, up from 45% in 1970 and 8% in 1940. Urban areas with significant Native American populations include Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles. Many live in poverty. Racism, unemployment, drugs and gangs are common problems which Indian social service organizations such as the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis attempt to address.<ref name=NYT41413>{{cite news|title=Quietly, Indians Reshape Cities and Reservations|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/us/as-american-indians-move-to-cities-old-and-new-challenges-follow.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414083757/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/us/as-american-indians-move-to-cities-old-and-new-challenges-follow.html |archive-date=2013-04-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=April 14, 2013|work=The New York Times|date=April 13, 2013|first=Timothy|last=Williams}}</ref>

===Population by tribal grouping===
Below are numbers for U.S. citizens self-identifying to selected tribal groupings, according to the 2010 U.S. census.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Table 7. American Indian and Alaska Native Population by Selected Tribal Groupings: 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/c2010br-10.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/cph-series/cph-t/cph-t-6.html}}</ref>

{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ 2010 Native American distribution by tribal group
|-
!scope="col"| Tribal grouping 
!scope="col"| Tribal flag 
!scope="col"| Tribal seal  
!scope="col"| American Indian & Alaska Native Alone one tribal grouping reported 
!scope="col"| American Indian & Alaska Native Alone more than one tribal grouping reported
!scope="col"| American Indian & Alaska Native Mixed one tribal grouping reported
!scope="col"| American Indian & Alaska Native Mixed more than one tribal grouping reported
!scope="col"| American Indian & Alaska Native tribal grouping alone or mixed in any combination 
|-
!scope="row"| Total
| || ||2,879,638||52,610||2,209,267||79,064||5,220,579
|-
!scope="row"| [[Apache]]
| || ||63,193||6,501||33,303||8,813||111,810
|-
!scope="row"| [[Arapaho]]
| [[File:Flag of Arapaho Nation.svg|50px]]|| ||8,014||388||2,084||375||10,861
|-
!scope="row"| [[Piegan Blackfeet|Blackfeet]]
| [[File:Flag of the Blackfoot Confederacy.jpg|50px]] || ||27,279||4,519||54,109||19,397||105,304
|-
!scope="row"| [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|Canadian & French American Indian]]
| [[File:Metis Blue.svg|50px|alt=]] [[File:Metis Red.svg|50px|alt=]]|| ||6,433||618||6,981||790||14,822
|-
!scope="row"| [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Central American Indian]]
| || ||15,882||572||10,865||525||27,844
|-
!scope="row"| [[Cherokee]]
| [[File:Flag of the Cherokee Nation.svg|50px]]||[[File:Great seal of the cherokee nation.svg|50px]]||284,247||16,216||468,082||50,560||819,105
|-
!scope="row"| [[Cheyenne]] <br> (Northern and Southern)
||[[File:Flag of Northern Cheyenne.svg|50px]] || ||11,375||1,118||5,311||1,247||19,051
|-
!scope="row"| [[Chickasaw]]
| [[File:Flag of the Chickasaw Nation.PNG|50px]]||||27,973||2,233||19,220||2,852||52,278
|-
!scope="row"| [[Chippewa]]
| ||||112,757||2,645||52,091||3,249||170,742
|-
!scope="row"| [[Choctaw]]
| [[File:Choctaw flag.svg|50px]]||[[File:Choctaw seal.svg|50px]]||103,910||6,398||72,101||13,355||195,764
|-
!scope="row"| [[Colville tribe|Colville]] 
| || ||8,114||200||2,148||87||10,549
|-
!scope="row"| [[Comanche]]
| [[File:Flag of the Comanche Nation.svg|50px]]|| ||12,284||1,187||8,131||1,728||23,330 
|-
!scope="row"| [[Cree]]
| [[File:Cree flag.svg|50px]]|| ||2,211||739||4,023||1,010||7,983
|-
!scope="row"| [[Muscogee (Creek)|Creek]]
| [[File:Flag of the Muskogee Nation.PNG|50px]]||[[File:Muscogee Nation Seal.png|50px]]||48,352||4,596||30,618||4,766||88,332
|-
!scope="row"| [[Crow Nation|Crow]]
| [[File:Flag of the Crow Nation.svg|50px]]|| ||10,332||528||3,309||1,034||15,203
|-
!scope="row"| [[Lenape|Delaware (Lenape)]]
| [[File:Flag of the Delaware Tribe of Indians.PNG|50px]]|| ||7,843||372||9,439||610||18,264
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hopi]]
| [[File:Flag of the Hopi Reservation.svg|50px]]||[[File:Hopi seal.svg|50px]]||12,580||2,054||3,013||680||18,327 
|-
!scope="row"| [[Houma people|Houma]]
| [[File:Flag of the United Houma Nation.svg|50px]]|| ||8,169||71||2,438||90||10,768
|-
!scope="row"| [[Iroquois]]
| [[File:Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy.svg|50px]]||[[File:Haudenosaunee seal.png|50px]]||40,570||1,891||34,490||4,051||81,002
|-
!scope="row"| [[Kiowa]]
| ||[[File:Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Seal.jpg|50px]]||9,437||918||2,947||485||13,787
|-
!scope="row"| [[Lumbee]]
| || ||62,306||651||10,039||695||73,691
|-
!scope="row"| [[Menominee]]
| [[File:Flag of the Menominee Nation.png|50px]]|| ||8,374||253||2,330||176||11,133
|-
!scope="row"| [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Mexican American Indian]]
| || ||121,221||2,329||49,670||2,274||175,494
|-
!scope="row"| [[Navajo people|Navajo]]
| [[File:Navajo flag.svg|50px]]||[[File:Great Seal of the Navajo Nation.svg|50px]]||286,731||8,285||32,918||4,195||332,129
|-
!scope="row"| [[Osage Nation|Osage]]
| [[File:Flag of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma.png|50px]]|| ||8,938||1,125||7,090||1,423||18,576
|-
!scope="row"| [[Odawa people|Ottawa]]
| || ||7,272||776||4,274||711||13,033
|-
!scope="row"| [[Paiute]]<ref>"Paiute" is a problematic cover term for non-contiguous and historically, ethnographically, and linguistically distinct tribes: [[Northern Paiute]], [[Southern Paiute]], and [[Mono people|Owens Valley Paiute]]. The 2000 U.S. Census lumps these distinct groups into one term. Generally, the word "Paiute" was used in the 19th century for any Great Basin Native American who wasn't [[Shoshone people|Shoshoni]].</ref>
| || ||9,340||865||3,135||427||13,767
|-
!scope="row"| [[Pima people|Pima]]
| [[File:O'odham unofficial flag.svg|50px]]|| ||22,040||1,165||3,116||334||26,655
|-
!scope="row"| [[Potawatomi]]
| [[File:Flag of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.PNG|50px]]|| ||20,412||462||12,249||648||33,771
|-
!scope="row"| [[Puebloan peoples|Pueblo]]
| [[File:Flag of the Pueblo of Zia.PNG|50px]]|| ||49,695||2,331||9,568||946||62,540
|-
!scope="row"| [[Coast Salish peoples|Puget Sound Salish]]
| || ||14,320||215||5,540||185||20,260
|-
!scope="row"| [[Seminole]]
| [[File:Flag of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.PNG|50px]]|| ||14,080||2,368||12,447||3,076||31,971
|-
!scope="row"| [[Shoshone]]
| || ||7,852||610||3,969||571||13,002
|-
!scope="row"| [[Sioux]]
| [[File:Pine Ridge Flag.svg|50px]]|| ||112,176||4,301||46,964||6,669||170,110 
|-
!scope="row"| [[Indigenous peoples of South America|South American Indian]]
| || ||20,901||479||25,015||838||47,233
|-
!scope="row"| Spanish American Indian
| || ||13,460||298||6,012||181||19,951
|-
!scope="row"| [[Tohono O'odham]]
| [[File:TohonoOOdhamNationflag.png|50px]]||||19,522||725||3,033||198||23,478
|-
!scope="row"| [[Ute people|Ute]]
| [[File:Flag of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation.png|50px]]|| ||7,435||785||2,802||469||11,491
|-
!scope="row"| [[Yakama Nation|Yakama]]
| || ||8,786||310||2,207||224||11,527
|-
!scope="row"| [[Yaqui people|Yaqui]]
| [[File:Flag of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona.svg|50px]]|| ||21,679||1,516||8,183||1,217||32,595
|-
!scope="row"| [[Quechan people|Yuman]]
| ||[[File:Quechan tribal seal.jpg|50px]]||7,727||551||1,642||169||10,089
|-
!scope="row"| All other American Indian tribes
| || ||270,141||12,606||135,032||11,850||429,629
|-
!scope="row"| American Indian tribes, not specified
| || ||131,943||117||102,188||72||234,320
|-
!scope="row"| Alaska Native tribes, specified 
| || ||98,892||4,194||32,992||2,772||138,850
|- 
!scope="row"| [[Alaskan Athabaskans]]
| || ||15,623||804||5,531||526||22,484
|-
!scope="row"| [[Aleut people|Aleut]]
| || ||11,920||723||6,108||531||19,282
|-
!scope="row"| [[Inupiat]]
| || ||24,859||877||7,051||573||33,360
|-
!scope="row"| [[Haida people|Tlingit-Haida]]
| || ||15,256||859||9,331||634||26,080
|-
!scope="row"| [[Tsimshian]]
| || ||2,307||240||1,010||198||3,755
|-
!scope="row"| [[Yup'ik]]
| || ||28,927||691||3,961||310||33,889
|-
!scope="row"| Alaska Native tribes, not specified 
| || ||19,731||173||9,896||133||29,933 
|- 
!scope="row"| American Indian or Alaska Native tribes, not specified
| || ||693,709||no data||852,253||1||1,545,963
|}

==Tribal sovereignty==
{{main|Tribal sovereignty in the United States|Native American tribe|Indian reservation}}
[[File:Indian reservations in the Continental United States.png|thumb|upright=1.85|Indian reservations in the continental United States]]

There are 573 [[List of Native American Tribal Entities|federally recognized tribal governments]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Federal Register|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-01-29/pdf/2016-01769.pdf|access-date=September 14, 2016}}</ref> and 326 [[List of Indian reservations in the United States|Indian reservations]]<ref name="Department of the Interior">{{cite web|url=http://www.bia.gov/FAQs|title=Frequently Asked Questions, Bureau of Indian Affairs|publisher=Department of the Interior|access-date=August 8, 2015}}</ref> in the United States. These tribes possess the right to form their own governments, to enforce laws (both civil and criminal) within their lands, to tax, to establish requirements for membership, to license and regulate activities, to zone, and to exclude persons from tribal territories. Limitations on tribal powers of self-government include the same limitations applicable to states; for example, neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or coin money (this includes paper currency).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/January/200501281313241CJsamohT0.7689478.html |website=america.gov |title=The U.S. Relationship To American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes |access-date=February 8, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519065837/https://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/January/200501281313241CJsamohT0.7689478.html |archive-date=May 19, 2009}}</ref> In addition, there are a number of tribes that are [[List of State Recognized American Indian Tribal Entities|recognized by individual states]], but not by the federal government. The rights and benefits associated with [[diplomatic recognition|state recognition]] vary from state to state.

Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights point out that the U.S. federal government's claim to recognize the "sovereignty" of Native American peoples falls short, given that the United States wishes to govern Native American peoples and treat them as subject to U.S. law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thorpe.ou.edu/guide/robertson.html|title=Native Americans and the Law: Native Americans Under Current United States Law|last=Robertson|first=Lindsay|date=June 2001|access-date=April 21, 2016|archive-date=April 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416012037/http://thorpe.ou.edu/guide/robertson.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Such advocates contend that full respect for Native American sovereignty would require the U.S. government to deal with Native American peoples in the same manner as any other sovereign nation, handling matters related to relations with Native Americans through the Secretary of State, rather than the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]. The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports on its website that its "responsibility is the administration and management of {{convert|55700000|acre|km2}} of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and [[Alaska Natives]]".<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html|access-date=December 25, 2007|title=Bureau of Indian affairs|journal=Science|volume=68|issue=1774|page=639|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129013254/http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html|archive-date=November 29, 2007|bibcode=1928Sci....68..639.|year=1928|doi=10.1126/science.68.1774.639}}</ref> Many Native Americans and advocates of Native American rights believe that it is condescending for such lands to be considered "held in trust" and regulated in any fashion by any entity other than their own tribes.

Some tribal groups have been unable to document the cultural continuity required for federal recognition. To achieve federal recognition and its benefits, tribes must prove continuous existence since 1900. The federal government has maintained this requirement, in part because through participation on councils and committees, federally recognized tribes have been adamant about groups' satisfying the same requirements as they did.<ref name="home.hamptonroads.com"/> The [[Ohlone|Muwekma Ohlone]] of the San Francisco Bay Area are pursuing litigation in the federal court system to establish recognition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.muwekma.org |title=The Muwekman Ohlone |access-date=June 22, 2007 |website=muwekma.org}}</ref> Many of the smaller eastern tribes, long considered remnants of extinct peoples, have been trying to gain official recognition of their tribal status. Several tribes in Virginia and North Carolina have gained state recognition. Federal recognition confers some benefits, including the right to label arts and crafts as Native American and permission to apply for grants that are specifically reserved for Native Americans. But gaining federal recognition as a tribe is extremely difficult; to be established as a tribal group, members have to submit extensive [[Genealogy|genealogical]] proof of tribal descent and continuity of the tribe as a culture.

[[File:Abandoned Mines Shiprock 2009.jpg|thumb|Native peoples are concerned about the effects of [[Uranium mining and the Navajo people|abandoned uranium mines]] on or near their lands.]]
In July 2000, the [[Washington State Republican Party]] adopted a resolution recommending that the federal and legislative branches of the [[U.S. government]] terminate tribal governments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiancountry.com/articles/headline-2000-07-12-01.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000902214724/http://www.indiancountry.com/articles/headline-2000-07-12-01.shtml |archive-date=September 2, 2000 |title=Washington GOP plank to terminate tribes ignites firestorm |access-date=August 29, 2011}}</ref> In 2007, a group of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] congressmen and congresswomen introduced a bill in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] to terminate Federal recognition of the [[Cherokee Nation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tanasijournal.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=365&Itemid=1&ed=53 |title=National Congress of American Indians Opposes Bill to Terminate the Cherokee Nation |date=July 7, 2007 |website=Tanasi Journal |publisher=Wisdom Keepers, Inc. |access-date=November 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510034518/http://www.tanasijournal.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=365&Itemid=1&ed=53 |archive-date=May 10, 2009}}</ref> This was related to their voting to exclude Cherokee Freedmen as members of the tribe unless they had a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Rolls, although all Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants had been members since 1866.

As of 2004, various Native Americans are wary of attempts by others to gain control of their reservation lands for natural resources, such as [[coal]] and [[uranium]] in the West.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.angelfire.com/band/senaaeurope/DRelocation.html |website=Senaa |title=The Genocide and Relocation of the Dine'h (Navajo) |access-date=February 8, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9703&L=tamha&F=&S=&P=7661 |website=LISTSERV at Wayne State University|title=Big Mountain Update 1 February 1997 |access-date=February 8, 2006}}</ref>

The State of [[Maine]] is the only State House Legislature that allows Representatives from Indian Tribes. The three nonvoting members represent the Penobscot Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and [[Passamaquoddy Tribe]]. These representatives can sponsor any legislation regarding American Indian affairs or co-sponsor any pending State of Maine legislation. Maine is unique regarding Indigenous leadership representation.<ref>Leland, Charles G. & Cook, Michael W. ''Passamaquoddy Legends (Annotated Edition)'': extracted from ''Algonquin Legends of New England; or Myths and Folklore of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Tribes.'' (USA: Independently published. 2021).</ref>

In the state of [[Virginia]], Native Americans face a unique problem. Until 2017 Virginia previously had no federally recognized tribes but the state had recognized eight. This is related historically to the greater impact of disease and warfare on the Virginia Indian populations, as well as their intermarriage with Europeans and Africans. Some people confused ancestry with culture, but groups of Virginia Indians maintained their cultural continuity. Most of their early reservations were ended under the pressure of early European settlement.

Some historians also note the problems of Virginia Indians in establishing documented continuity of identity, due to the work of [[Walter Ashby Plecker]] (1912–1946). As registrar of the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics, he applied his own interpretation of the [[one-drop rule]], enacted in law in 1924 as the state's Racial Integrity Act. It recognized only two races: "white" and "colored".

Plecker, a [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregationist]], believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" by intermarriage with African Americans; to him, ancestry determined identity, rather than culture. He thought that some people of partial black ancestry were trying to "[[Passing (racial identity)|pass]]" as Native Americans. Plecker thought that anyone with any African heritage had to be classified as colored, regardless of appearance, amount of European or Native American ancestry, and cultural/community identification. Plecker pressured local governments into reclassifying all Native Americans in the state as "colored" and gave them lists of family surnames to examine for reclassification based on his interpretation of data and the law. This led to the state's destruction of accurate records related to families and communities who identified as Native American (as in church records and daily life). By his actions, sometimes different members of the same family were split by being classified as "white" or "colored". He did not allow people to enter their primary identification as Native American in state records.<ref name="home.hamptonroads.com">{{cite web |url=http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=74481&ran=162825 |website=Pilotonline.com |title=The black-and-white world of Walter Ashby Plecker |access-date=February 8, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103123937/http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=74481&ran=162825 |archive-date=January 3, 2006}}</ref> In 2009, the [[Senate Indian Affairs Committee]] endorsed a bill that would grant federal recognition to tribes in Virginia.<ref>{{cite news|url = http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/INDI23_20091022-223007/301146//|title = Virginia tribes take another step on road to federal recognition |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20091026175747/http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/INDI23_20091022-223007/301146/ |archive-date = October 26, 2009|date = October 23, 2009 |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch}}</ref>

{{As of|2000}}, the largest groups in the United States by population were [[Navajo Nation|Navajo]], [[Cherokee]], [[Choctaw]], [[Sioux]], [[Chippewa]], [[Apache]], [[Piegan Blackfeet|Blackfeet]], [[Iroquois]], and [[Puebloan peoples|Pueblo]]. In 2000, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed ancestry. It is estimated that by 2100 that figure will rise to nine out of ten.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Columbia Law Review |title=Mixing Bodies and Beliefs: The Predicament of Tribes |last = Gould|first = L. Scott|volume = 101|issue = 4|date = May 2001|doi=10.2307/1123684 |pages = 702–772 |jstor=1123684}}</ref>

==Civil rights movement==
{{main|Civil rights movement|Jim Crow Laws|Martin Luther King Jr.|National Congress of American Indians|National Indian Youth Council|Native American Rights Fund|Brown v. Board of Education}}

[[File:Bia-sit-in.jpg|thumb|alt=A group of NIYC demonstrators holding signs in front of the BIA office.|National Indian Youth Council demonstrations, March 1970, Bureau of Indian Affairs Office]]
The [[civil rights movement]] was a very significant moment for the rights of Native Americans and other people of color. Native Americans faced racism and prejudice for hundreds of years, and this increased after the American Civil War. Native Americans, like African Americans, were subjected to the [[Jim Crow Laws]] and segregation in the [[Deep South]] especially after they were made citizens through the [[Indian Citizenship Act]] of 1924. As a body of law, Jim Crow institutionalized economic, educational, and social disadvantages for Native Americans, and other people of color living in the south.<ref name="tperd">{{cite web |last1=Perdue |first1=Theda |title=Legacy of Jim Crow for Southern Native Americans |url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?302379-1/legacy-jim-crow-southern-native-americans |website=C-SPAN |access-date=November 27, 2018 |date=October 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name="jimlu">{{cite book |last1=Lowery |first1=Malinda Maynor |title=Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLY3XbAqDUwC|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |access-date=November 27, 2018 |pages=0–339 |date=January 1, 2010|isbn=9780807833681}}</ref><ref name="jewolf">{{cite journal |last1=Wolfley |first1=Jeanette |title=Jim Crow, Indian Style: The Disenfranchisement of Native Americans |journal=American Indian Law Review |date=1991 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=167–202 |doi=10.2307/20068694 |jstor=20068694 |hdl=1903/22633 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/ailr/vol16/iss1/5 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Native American identity was especially targeted by a system that only wanted to recognize white or colored, and the government began to question the legitimacy of some tribes because they had intermarried with African Americans.<ref name="tperd"/><ref name="jimlu"/> Native Americans were also discriminated and discouraged from voting in the southern and western states.<ref name="jewolf"/>

In the [[Deep South|south]] segregation was a major problem for Native Americans seeking education, but the NAACP's legal strategy would later change this.<ref name="naalega">{{cite web |first1=Robert J. |last1=Cottrol |first2=Raymond T. |last2=Diamond |first3=Leland B. |last3=Ware |title=NAACP v. Jim Crow |url=https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/summer-2004/naacp-v-jim-crow |website=American Federation of Teachers |access-date=April 7, 2019 |language=en |date=August 8, 2014}}</ref> Movements such as [[Brown v. Board of Education]] was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement headed by the [[NAACP]], and inspired Native Americans to start participating in the Civil Rights Movement.<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis54.htm#1954bvbe ''Brown v Board of Education'' Decision] ~ Civil Rights Movement Archive</ref><ref name="kingcreek"/> [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] began assisting Native Americans in the south in the late 1950s after they reached out to him.<ref name="kingcreek">{{cite web |last1=Bender |first1=Albert |title=Dr. King spoke out against the genocide of Native Americans |url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/dr-king-spoke-out-against-the-genocide-of-native-americans/ |website=People's World |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=February 13, 2014}}</ref> At that time the remaining [[Creek tribe|Creek]] in Alabama were trying to completely desegregate schools in their area. In this case, light-complexioned Native children were allowed to ride school buses to previously all white schools, while dark-skinned Native children from the same band were barred from riding the same buses.<ref name="kingcreek"/> Tribal leaders, upon hearing of King's desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, contacted him for assistance. He promptly responded and, through his intervention, the problem was quickly resolved.<ref name="kingcreek"/> King would later make trips to Arizona visiting Native Americans on reservations, and in churches encouraging them to be involved in the Civil Rights Movement.<ref name="kingindrez">{{cite web |last1=Leighton |first1=David |title=Street Smarts: MLK Jr. visited 'Papago' reservation near Tucson, was fascinated |url=https://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-mlk-jr-visited-papago-reservation-near-tucson-was/article_cbc4d8f3-6d53-54f3-a783-359646fe2c82.html |website=The Arizona Daily Star |access-date=November 26, 2018 |date=April 2, 2017}}</ref> In King's book ''Why We Can't Wait'' he writes:

<blockquote>Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.<ref name="kingnatspeech">{{cite web |last1=Rickert |first1=Levi |title=Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Our Nation was Born in Genocide |url=https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-nation-born-genocide/ |website=Native News Online |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=January 16, 2017 |archive-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126092832/https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-nation-born-genocide/ |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

Native Americans would then actively participate and support the NAACP, and the civil rights movement.<ref name="hufponat">{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Gyasi |title=Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Black People and Indigenous People: How We Cash This Damn Check |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-black-people-and-indigenous_us_5a57c671e4b03a1e6098bc6d |website=[[Huffington Post]] |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=January 11, 2018}}</ref> The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) would soon rise in 1961 to fight for Native American rights during the Civil Rights Movement, and were strong King supporters.<ref name="scielo.org.za"/><ref name=COBB>Cobb, Daniel M.(2008). ''Native Activism In Cold War America: The Struggle for Sovereignty'', University Press of Kansas, Kansas. {{ISBN|978-0-7006-1597-1}}.{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> During the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|1963 March on Washington]] there was a sizable Native American contingent, including many from South Dakota, and many from the [[Navajo nation]].<ref name="kingcreek"/><ref name="navtimes">{{cite web |last1=Pineo |first1=Christopher |title=Navajos and locals in Gallup celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day |url=https://www.navajotimes.com/reznews/navajos-and-locals-in-gallup-celebrate-martin-luther-king-jr-day/ |website=Navajo Times |access-date=November 26, 2018 |date=January 21, 2016 |archive-date=September 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220918181926/https://navajotimes.com/reznews/navajos-and-locals-in-gallup-celebrate-martin-luther-king-jr-day/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Native Americans also participated the [[Poor People's Campaign]] in 1968.<ref name="scielo.org.za">{{cite journal |last1=Garcia |first1=Kevin |title=The American Indian Civil Rights Movement: A case study in Civil Society Protest |journal=Yesterday and Today |date=December 1, 2014 |volume=12 |pages=60–74 |url=http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862014000200004 |access-date=November 25, 2018 |issn=2309-9003}}</ref> The NIYC were very active supporters of the [[Poor People's Campaign]] unlike the [[National Congress of American Indians]] (NCAI); the NIYC and other Native organizations met with King in March 1968 but the NCAI disagreed on how to approach the anti-poverty campaign; the NCAI decided against participating in the march.<ref name=COBB/> The NCAI wished to pursue their battles in the courts and with Congress, unlike the NIYC.<ref name="scielo.org.za"/><ref name=COBB/> The NAACP also inspired the creation of the [[Native American Rights Fund]] (NARF) which was patterned after the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund.<ref name="kingcreek"/> Furthermore, the NAACP continued to organize to stop mass incarceration and end the [[Native Americans and the prison–industrial complex|criminalization of Native Americans]] and other communities of people of color.<ref name="naanative">{{cite web |last1=Needle |first1=Elana |title=Nationwide Racial Equity Groups Organize in Support of Racial Healing Groups Support NDORH with Prayer Vigil and Tele Town Hall |url=https://www.naacp.org/latest/nationwide-racial-equity-groups-organize-support-racial-healing%E2%80%AF-groups-support-ndorh-prayer-vigil-tele-town-hall%E2%80%AF/ |website=NAACP |access-date=April 7, 2019 |date=January 18, 2019 |archive-date=February 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203050541/https://www.naacp.org/latest/nationwide-racial-equity-groups-organize-support-racial-healing%e2%80%af-groups-support-ndorh-prayer-vigil-tele-town-hall%e2%80%af/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The following is an excerpt from a statement from [[Mel Thom]] on May 1, 1968, during a meeting with Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]]:<ref name=COBB/> (It was written by members of the Workshop on American Indian Affairs and the NIYC)

{{blockquote|We have joined the Poor People's Campaign because most of our families, tribes, and communities number among those suffering most in this country. We are not begging. We are demanding what is rightfully ours. This is no more than the right to have a decent life in our own communities. We need guaranteed jobs, guaranteed income, housing, schools, economic development, but most important- we want them on our own terms.

Our chief spokesman in the federal government, the [[U.S. Department of the Interior|Department of Interior]], has failed us. In fact it began failing us from its very beginning. The Interior Department began failing us because it was built upon and operates under a racist, immoral, paternalistic and colonialistic system. There is no way to improve upon racism, immorality and colonialism; it can only be done away with. The system and power structure serving Indian peoples is a sickness which has grown to epidemic proportions. The Indian system is sick. Paternalism is the virus and the secretary of the Interior is the carrier.}}

==Contemporary issues==
{{Main|Contemporary Native American issues in the United States}}
{{See also|Environmental Justice|Social Justice}}

Native American struggles amid [[Reservation poverty|poverty]] to maintain life on the reservation or in larger society have resulted in a variety of health issues, some related to nutrition and health practices. The community suffers a vulnerability to and [[Alcohol and Native Americans|disproportionately high rate of alcoholism]]:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://erc.msh.org/mainpage.cfm?file=5.4.7e.htm&module=provider&language=English |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030123233808/http://erc.msh.org/mainpage.cfm?file=5.4.7e.htm&module=provider&language=English |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 23, 2003 |access-date=June 22, 2007 |title=Challenges to Health and Well-Being of Native American Communities |website=The Provider's Guide to Quality and Culture}}, Management of Science of Health</ref>

{{blockquote|It has long been recognized that Native Americans are dying of [[diabetes]], alcoholism, [[tuberculosis]], [[suicide]], and other health conditions at shocking rates. Beyond disturbingly high mortality rates, Native Americans also suffer a significantly lower health status and disproportionate rates of disease compared with all other Americans.|[[United States Commission on Civil Rights|U.S. Commission on Civil Rights]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/docs/nabroken.pdf |title=Broken Promises: Evaluating the Native American Health Care System |date=September 2004 |website= United States Commission on Civil Rights|publisher= |access-date=April 9, 2021 |quote=It has been long recognized that Native Americans are dying of diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, and other health conditions at shocking rates.}}</ref> (September 2004)}}

Recent studies also point to rising rates of stroke,<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Schieb LJ|title=Trends and Disparities in Stroke Mortality by Region for American Indians and Alaska Natives|journal= American Journal of Public Health|volume=104|issue=S3|date=2014|pmc=4035883|pmid=24754653|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2013.301698|pages=S368-76}}</ref> heart disease,<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Veazie M|title=Trends and Disparities in Heart Disease Mortality Among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 1990–2009
|journal= American Journal of Public Health|volume=104|issue=S3|date=2014|pmc=4035888|pmid=24754556|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2013.301715|pages=S359-67}}</ref> and diabetes<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Nuyujukian DS|title=Sleep Duration and Diabetes Risk in American Indian and Alaska Native Participants of a Lifestyle Intervention Project|journal=Sleep|volume=39|issue=11|pages=1919–1926|date=2016|doi=10.5665/sleep.6216|pmid=27450685|pmc=5070746}}</ref> in the Native American population.

===Societal discrimination and racism===
{{Further|Stereotypes of Native Americans|Racism against Native Americans in the United States}}
[[File:No beer sold to indians.jpg|thumb|A [[discrimination|discriminatory]] sign posted above a bar. [[Birney, Montana|Birney]], [[Montana]], 1941]]
[[File:Eight Crow prisoners under guard at Crow agency, Montana, 1887 - NARA - 531126.jpg|thumb|Chief Plenty Coups and seven Crow prisoners under guard at Crow agency, Montana, 1887]]

Native Americans have been subjected to discrimination for centuries. In response to being labeled "merciless Indian savages" in the Declaration of Independence, Simon Moya-Smith, culture editor at ''[[Indian Country Today]]'', states, "Any holiday that would refer to my people in such a repugnant, racist manner is certainly not worth celebrating. [July Fourth] is a day we celebrate our resiliency, our culture, our languages, our children and we mourn the millions — literally millions — of indigenous people who have died as a consequence of American imperialism."<ref>[https://mic.com/articles/121671/native-americans-have-nothing-to-celebrate-on-july-4#.Qst75mbCL "Millions of Americans Have Nothing to Celebrate on the Fourth of July"]. Mic. Retrieved August 23, 2017.</ref>

In a study conducted in 2006–2007, non-Native Americans admitted they rarely encountered Native Americans in their daily lives. This is largely due to the number of Native Americans having dwindled since white [[settler colonialism]], while those who survived were forcibly moved into reservations; both of these factors were referenced by [[Adolf Hitler]] in 1928 when he admiringly stated the US had "gunned down the millions of Redskins to a few hundred thousand, and now keep the modest remnant under observation in a cage".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moon |first1=David |title=The American Steppes |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=44}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=How American Racism Influenced Hitler |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/how-american-racism-influenced-hitler |access-date=March 9, 2024 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref> While sympathetic toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, most people had only a vague understanding of the problems facing Native Americans today. For their part, Native Americans told researchers that they believed they continued to face [[Racism in the United States|prejudice]], mistreatment, and [[Native Americans and reservation inequality|inequality]] in the broader society.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publicagenda.org/reports/walking-mile-first-step-toward-mutual-understanding |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919174041/http://www.publicagenda.org/reports/walking-mile-first-step-toward-mutual-understanding |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 19, 2008 |website=Public Agenda |title=Walking a Mile: A Qualitative Study Exploring How Indians and Non-Indians Think About Each Other |access-date=July 25, 2008}}</ref>

====Affirmative action issues====
Federal contractors and subcontractors, such as businesses and educational institutions, are legally required to adopt [[equal opportunity employment]] and [[Affirmative action in the United States|affirmative action]] measures intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin".<ref>{{cite web| publisher = The Federal Register| title = [Executive Order 11246]--Equal employment opportunity| url = https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11246.html| access-date = May 5, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100330083544/http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11246.html| archive-date= March 30, 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ref1>{{cite web|publisher=U.S. Department of Labor |title=Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) |url=http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/aa.htm |access-date=May 5, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128110029/http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/aa.htm |archive-date=November 28, 2009}}</ref> For this purpose, a Native American is defined as "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment". The passing of the [[Indian Relocation Act of 1956|Indian Relocation Act]] saw a 56% increase in Native American city dwellers over 40 years.<ref name="AmericanIndianPoverty">{{cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=James J.|last2=Roscigno|first2=Vincent J.|last3=Wilson|first3=George|date=March 2016|title=American Indian Poverty in the Contemporary United States|journal=Sociological Forum|volume=31|pages=6, 8|doi=10.1111/socf.12226}}</ref> The Native American urban poverty rate exceeds that of reservation poverty rates due to discrimination in hiring processes.<ref name="AmericanIndianPoverty" /> However, self-reporting is permitted: "Educational institutions and other recipients should allow students and staff to self-identify their race and ethnicity unless self-identification is not practicable or feasible."<ref name=FRDefinition>{{cite web|title=Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic Data to the U.S. Department of Education|url=http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.pdf|website=Federal Register/Vol. 72, No. 202/Friday, October 19, 2007/Notices|publisher=U.S. Department of Education|access-date=June 9, 2012|pages=59266 to 59279|format=Notice|date=October 19, 2007|quote=A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109230715/http://www2.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/other/2007-4/101907c.pdf|archive-date=November 9, 2011}}</ref>

Self-reporting opens the door to "box checking" by people who, despite not having a substantial relationship to Native American culture, innocently or fraudulently check the box for Native American.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Removing Educational Barriers for Native American Citizens of Federally- Recognized Tribes|journal=The American Indian Graduate|date=Spring 2012|pages=10–14|url=https://www.aigcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/American-Indian-Graduate-Magazine-Spring-2012.pdf|access-date=June 9, 2012|first=Bridget|last=Neconie|quote=The Native American population is the only group in American that tends to experience systematic fraudulent behavior. Claiming to be Native American has become such a common and accepted practice that recently, the American Bar Association began to require verification of the identity of Native American applicants.|ref=AIG|archive-date=June 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618210033/http://www.aigcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/American-Indian-Graduate-Magazine-Spring-2012.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The difficulties that Native Americans face in the workforce, for example, a lack of promotions and wrongful terminations are attributed to racial stereotypes and implicit biases. Native American business owners are seldom offered auxiliary resources that are crucial for entrepreneurial success.<ref name="AmericanIndianPoverty" />

===Sexual violence as a tool for settler colonialism===
Throughout history, settler colonialism has remained a violent and destructive tool to displace and exterminate Native American peoples. The use of sexual violence to perpetuate this is very common. Musocgee Creek law professor Sarah Deer highlights the high number of Native women who still experience this violence: "Since 1999 a variety of reports and studies have come to the same conclusion- namely, that Native women in particular suffer the highest rate of per capita rape in the United States." The continued acts of sexual violence against Native women have been perpetuated by colonization and the actions of colonizers. Native women through time have been portrayed as extremely sexual which only enforces sexual violence. Deer explains, "Dispossession and relocation of indigenous peoples on this continent both necessitated and precipitated a highly gendered and sexualized dynamic in which Native women's bodies became commodities- bought and sold for the purposes of sexual gratification (or profit), invariably transporting them far away from their homes."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deer |first=Sarah |title=The Beginning and End of Rape : Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2015}}</ref>

===Native American mascots in sports===
{{Main|Native American mascot controversy}}
{{Further|NCAA Native American mascot decision}}
[[File:NotYourMascot2.jpg|thumb|right|Protest against the name of the [[Washington Redskins]] in Minneapolis, November 2014]]

American Indian activists in the United States and Canada have criticized the use of Native American [[mascot]]s in sports, as perpetuating stereotypes. This is considered [[cultural appropriation]].
There has been a steady decline in the number of secondary school and college teams using such names, images, and mascots. Some tribal team names have been approved by the tribe in question, such as the Seminole Council of Florida  approving use of their name for the teams of [[Florida State University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fsu.com/pages/2005/06/17/historic_vote.html|title=Florida State University thanks Seminoles for historic vote of support|publisher=Florida State University|access-date=August 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608224336/http://www.fsu.com/pages/2005/06/17/historic_vote.html|archive-date=June 8, 2007}}</ref><ref name="teachingTolerance">{{cite web|url=http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=165|title=Native American Mascots Big Issue in College Sports|access-date=August 26, 2008|author=Teaching Tolerance|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420073332/http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=165|archive-date=April 20, 2008}}</ref>The NCAA allows the use even though the NCAA "continues to believe the stereotyping of Native Americans is wrong."<ref>{{cite magazine| title=The Florida State Seminoles: The Champions of Racist Mascots| magazine=The Nation| date=January 7, 2014| last=Zirin| first=Dave| url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/florida-state-seminoles-champions-racist-mascots/}}</ref>

Among professional teams, the [[NBA]]'s [[Golden State Warriors]] discontinued use of Native American-themed logos in 1971. The [[NFL]]'s [[Washington Commanders]], formerly the [[Washington Redskins name controversy|Washington Redskins]], changed their name in 2020, as [[Redskin|the term]] is considered to be a racial slur.<ref>{{cite web|title=ENDING THE LEGACY OF RACISM IN SPORTS & THE ERA OF HARMFUL "INDIAN" SPORTS MASCOTS|url=http://www.ncai.org/attachments/policypaper_mijapmouwdbjqftjayzqwlqldrwzvsyfakbwthpmatcoroyolpn_ncai_harmful_mascots_report_ending_the_legacy_of_racism_10_2013.pdf|publisher=National Congress of American Indians|page=10|date=October 2013}}</ref>

[[MLB]]'s [[Cleveland Guardians]] were formerly known as the [[Cleveland Indians name and logo controversy|Cleveland Indians]]. Their use of a caricature called [[Chief Wahoo]] faced protest for decades.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/native-american-mascot-controversy-takes-center-stage-national-museum-american-indian|title=Native American Mascot Controversy Takes Center Stage at the National Museum of the American Indian|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|date=December 24, 2012|access-date=August 20, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/cleveland/2015/04/09/cleveland--protesters-a-century-of-indians-is-enough/25538785/| archive-url=https://archive.today/20150411031430/http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/cleveland/2015/04/09/cleveland--protesters-a-century-of-indians-is-enough/25538785/| url-status=dead| archive-date=April 11, 2015| title=Wahoo Protesters: A century of 'Indians' is enough| first=Tom| last=Beres| publisher=WKYC-TV| date=April 9, 2015}}</ref> Starting in 2019, Chief Wahoo ceased to be a logo for Cleveland Indians, though Chief Wahoo merchandise could still be sold in the Cleveland-area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/chief-wahoo|title=CHIEF WAHOO|date=February 18, 2019|website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History &#124; Case Western Reserve University}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Bastian|first=Jordan|title=Indians to stop using Wahoo logo starting in '19|url=https://www.mlb.com/indians/news/indians-to-stop-using-chief-wahoo-logo/c-265489544|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media|Major League Baseball Advanced Media]]|date=January 29, 2018|access-date=November 30, 2020}}</ref><ref name="WahooLogoNYT">{{cite news|last=Waldstein|first=David|title=Cleveland Indians Will Abandon Chief Wahoo Logo Next Year|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-chief-wahoo-logo.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129173741/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-chief-wahoo-logo.html |archive-date=2018-01-29 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 29, 2018|access-date=November 30, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="WahooLogoNBC">{{cite news|last=Siemaszko|first=Corky|title=Cleveland Indians will remove Chief Wahoo logo in 2019|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/cleveland-indians-will-remove-chief-wahoo-logo-2019-n842196|work=[[NBC News]]|date=January 29, 2018|access-date=November 30, 2018}}</ref> On December 13, 2020, ''The New York Times'' reported that Cleveland would be officially changing their name.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Waldstein|first1=David|last2=Schmidt|first2=Michael S.|date=December 14, 2020|title=Cleveland's Baseball Team Will Drop Its Indians Team Name|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-baseball-name-change.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214011605/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-baseball-name-change.html |archive-date=2020-12-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=December 29, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On November 19, 2021, the team officially became the [[Cleveland Guardians]].<ref name="ClevelandGuardians">{{cite news|last=Bell|first=Mandy|title=New for '22: Meet the Cleveland Guardians|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/cleveland-indians-change-name-to-guardians|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|website=[[MLB.com]]|date=July 23, 2021|access-date=July 24, 2021|url-status=live|language=en-US|archive-date=July 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723143028/https://www.mlb.com/news/cleveland-indians-change-name-to-guardians}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hoynes|first=Paul|title=Cleveland Indians choose Guardians as new team name|url=https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2021/07/cleveland-indians-choose-guardians-as-new-team-name.html|newspaper=[[The Plain Dealer]]|language=en|date=July 23, 2021|access-date=July 24, 2021|url-status=live|archive-date=July 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725123833/https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2021/07/cleveland-indians-choose-guardians-as-new-team-name.html}}</ref>

===Historical depictions in art===
[[File:North carolina algonkin-rituale02.jpg|thumb|''[[Secotan]] Indians' dance in North Carolina''. Watercolor by John White, 1585.]]

Native Americans have been depicted by [[List of American artists|American artists]] in various ways at different periods. A number of 19th- and 20th-century United States and Canadian painters, often motivated by a desire to document and preserve Native culture, specialized in Native American subjects. Among the most prominent of these were [[Elbridge Ayer Burbank]], [[George Catlin]], [[Seth and Mary Eastman|Seth Eastman]], [[Paul Kane]], [[W. Langdon Kihn]], [[Charles Bird King]], [[Joseph Henry Sharp]], and [[John Mix Stanley]].
[[File:George Catlin - Eagle Dance - 1985.66.386,440 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|thumb|Eagle Dance of the [[Sac and Fox Nation|Sac and Fox]] Indians, painting by [[George Catlin]], {{Circa|1845}}]]
In the 20th century, early portrayals of Native Americans in [[movies]] and [[television]] roles were first performed by European Americans dressed in mock traditional attire. Examples included ''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1920), ''Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans'' (1957), and ''[[F Troop]]'' (1965–1967). In later decades, Native American actors such as [[Jay Silverheels]] in ''[[The Lone Ranger#Television series|The Lone Ranger]]'' television series (1949–1957) came to prominence. The roles of Native Americans were limited and not reflective of Native American culture. By the 1970s some Native American film roles began to show more complexity, such as those in ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]'' (1970), ''[[Billy Jack]]'' (1971), and ''[[The Outlaw Josey Wales]]'' (1976), which depicted Native Americans in minor supporting roles.

For years, Native people on American television were relegated to secondary, subordinate roles. During the years of the series ''[[Bonanza]]'' (1959–1973), no major or secondary Native characters appeared on a consistent basis. The series ''[[The Lone Ranger (TV series)|The Lone Ranger]]'' (1949–1957), ''[[Cheyenne (1955 TV series)|Cheyenne]]'' (1955–1963), and ''[[Law of the Plainsman]]'' (1959–1963) had Native characters who were essentially aides to the central white characters. This continued in such series as ''[[How the West Was Won (TV series)|How the West Was Won]]''. These programs resembled the "sympathetic" yet contradictory film ''[[Dances With Wolves]]'' of 1990, in which, according to Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, the narrative choice was to relate the Lakota story as told through a Euro-American voice, for wider impact among a general audience.<ref>Shohat, Ella, and Stam, Robert. ''Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media''. New York: Routledge, 1994.</ref>
Like the 1992 remake of ''[[The Last of the Mohicans (1992 film)|The Last of the Mohicans]]'' and ''[[Geronimo: An American Legend]]'' (1993), ''Dances with Wolves'' employed a number of Native American actors, and made an effort to portray Indigenous languages. In 1996, [[Plains Cree people|Plains Cree]] actor [[Michael Greyeyes]] would play renowned Native American warrior [[Crazy Horse]] in the 1996 television film ''[[Crazy Horse (1996 film)|Crazy Horse]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1996-07-07-9607050218-story.html|title=TNT'S 'CRAZY HORSE' IS A DUD OF A TRIBUTE|last=Boedeker|first=Hal |website=OrlandoSentinel.com|language=en-US|date=July 7, 1996|access-date=November 30, 2020}}</ref> and would also later play renowned Sioux chief [[Sitting Bull]] in the 2017 movie ''[[Woman Walks Ahead]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-michael-greyeyes-woman-walks-ahead-20180621-story.html|title=As Sitting Bull in 'Woman Walks Ahead,' Michael Greyeyes continues to educate through Native roles|first=Amy|last=Kaufman|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 21, 2018|access-date=December 21, 2020}}</ref>

The 1998 film ''[[Smoke Signals (film)|Smoke Signals]]'', which was set on the [[Coeur D'Alene Reservation]] and discussed hardships of present-day American Indian families living on reservations, featured numerous Native American actors as well.<ref name=hollywoodmilestone>{{cite news|url=https://www.indianz.com/IndianGaming/2018/09/25/cast-and-crew-of-smoke-signals-reunites.asp|title=Cast and crew of Smoke Signals reunites for 20th anniversary|newspaper=Indianz |publisher=Indianz.com|date=September 25, 2018|access-date=December 21, 2020}}</ref> The film was the first feature film to be produced and directed by Native Americans, and was also the first feature to include an exclusive Native American cast.<ref name=hollywoodmilestone /> At the annual Sundance Film Festival, ''Smoke Signals'' would win the Audience Award and its producer [[Chris Eyre]], an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, would win the Filmmaker's Trophy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.colorado.edu/cwa/chris-eyre|title=Chris Eyre|date=November 30, 2017|website=Conference on World Affairs}}</ref> In 2009, ''[[We Shall Remain (documentary)|We Shall Remain]]'' (2009), a television documentary by [[Ric Burns]] and part of the ''[[American Experience]]'' series, presented a five-episode series "from a Native American perspective". It represented "an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers and involves Native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project".<ref>{{Cite news |title=About the Project: We Shall Remain|url =https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/about |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406101027/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/the_films/about |archive-date=2009-04-06 |url-status=dead |access-date=August 11, 2022}}</ref> The five episodes explore the impact of [[King Philip's War]] on the northeastern tribes, the "Native American confederacy" of [[Tecumseh's War]], the U.S.-forced relocation of Southeastern tribes known as the [[Trail of Tears]], the pursuit and capture of [[Geronimo]] and the [[Apache Wars]], and concludes with the [[Wounded Knee incident]], participation by the [[American Indian Movement]], and the increasing resurgence of modern Native cultures since.

===Differences in terminology===
{{Further|Native American name controversy}}

The most common of the modern terms to refer to Indigenous peoples of the United States are ''Indians'', ''American Indians'', and ''Native Americans''. Up to the early to mid 18th century, the term ''Americans'' was not applied to people of European heritage in North America. Instead it was equivalent to the term ''Indians''. As people of European heritage began using the term ''Americans'' to refer instead to themselves, the word ''Indians'' became historically the most often employed term.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Utter |first1=Jack |title=American Indians: Answers to Today's Questions |date=2001 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0-8061-3309-0 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yh9j9Dd5uoAC |access-date=February 23, 2022}}</ref>

The term ''Indians'', long laden with racist stereotypes, began to be widely replaced in the 1960s with the term ''Native Americans'', which recognized the Indigeneity of the people who first made the Americas home. But as the term ''Native Americans'' became popular, the American Indian Movement saw pejorative connotations in the term ''native'' and reappropriated the term ''Indian'', seeing it as witness to the history of violence against the many nations that lived in the Americas before European arrival.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Slate |first1=Nico |title=Lord Cornwallis Is Dead: The Struggle for Democracy in the United States and India |date=2019 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=9780674983441 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_KBDwAAQBAJ |access-date=February 23, 2022}}</ref>

The term ''Native American'' was introduced in the United States in preference to the older term ''Indian'' to distinguish the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] from the people of [[India]]. It may have been coined by [[Mohican]] Sachem [[John Wannuaucon Quinney]], in an 1852 address to the US Congress where he argued against proposed resettlement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Quinney |first1=John W. |title=Memorial to Congress |date=1852 |publisher=Madison |page=320 |url=https://archive.org/details/collections04wiscuoft/page/324/mode/2up |access-date=22 April 2024}}</ref>

The term ''Amerindian'', a [[portmanteau]] of "American Indian", was coined in 1902 by the [[American Anthropological Association]]. However, it has been controversial since its creation. It was immediately rejected by some leading members of the Association, and, while adopted by many, it was never universally accepted.<ref name=AmerIndNYT>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/10/22/118482945.pdf |title=Americanists in dispute |date=October 22, 1902 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2009-01-14}}</ref> While never popular in Indigenous communities themselves, it remains a preferred term among some anthropologists, notably in some parts of Canada and the [[Commonwealth Caribbean|English-speaking Caribbean]].<ref>[http://www.survivalinternational.org/info/terminology "Terminology."] ''Survival International.'' Retrieved 30 March 2012. [http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=aborigen "Aborigen"] ''Diccionario de la Real Academia Española''. Retrieved 8 February 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Reid|first=Basil|title=Tracing Our Amerindian Heritage|url=http://www2.sta.uwi.edu/pelican/exclusives/oex_3.asp|access-date=2016-02-10|website=www2.sta.uwi.edu|archive-date=16 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216050126/http://www2.sta.uwi.edu/pelican/exclusives/oex_3.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Guide|first=Barbados.org Travel|title=The Abbreviated History of Barbados|url=http://www.barbados.org/history1.htm|access-date=2016-02-10|website=www.barbados.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Unique Media Design Limited|title=diGJamaica :: Amerindian Jamaica|url=http://www.digjamaica.com/amerindian_jamaica|access-date=2016-02-10|website=diGJamaica.com|archive-date=February 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223225624/http://digjamaica.com/amerindian_jamaica|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During World War II, draft boards typically classified American Indians from Virginia as [[Negro]]es.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Murray|first=Paul T.|date=1987|title=Who Is an Indian? Who Is a Negro? Virginia Indians in the World War II Draft|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4248942|journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume=95|issue=2|pages=215–231|jstor=4248942|issn=0042-6636}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Properties|url=https://www.indigenous-americans.com/native-american-slavery|access-date=December 29, 2020|website=www.indigenous-americans.com|archive-date=September 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928141447/https://indigenous-americans.com/native-american-slavery|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1995, a plurality of Indigenous Americans, however, preferred the term ''American Indian''<ref name="Census">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762158.html|website=Infoplease|title=Preference for Racial or Ethnic Terminology|access-date=February 8, 2006}}</ref> and many [[List of federally recognized tribes|tribes]] include the word Indian in their formal title.

Criticism of the [[neologism]] ''Native American'' comes from diverse sources. [[Russell Means]], an Oglala Lakota activist, opposed the term ''Native American'' because he believed it was imposed by the government without the consent of Native people.<ref>Russell Means: "I am an American Indian, not a native American!" (Treaty Productions, 1996); citation given here [http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nc-american-indians/5526] and here [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/bismarck_200504A16.html]</ref>

A 1995 U.S. Census Bureau survey found that more Native Americans in the United States preferred ''American Indian'' to ''Native American''.<ref name="Census" /> Most American Indians are comfortable with ''Indian'', ''American Indian'', and ''Native American''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmterms.html |website=Infoplease |title=''American Indian'' versus ''Native American'' |access-date=February 8, 2006}}</ref> That term is reflected in the name chosen for the [[National Museum of the American Indian]], which opened in 2004 on [[The Mall (Washington, D.C.)|the Mall]] in [[Washington, D.C.]].

Other commonly used terms are ''First Americans'', ''First Nations'', and ''Native Peoples''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Diane J. Willis|author2=Dolores Subia BigFoot|editor1-last=Robinson|editor1-first=John D.|editor2-last=James|editor2-first=Larry C.|title=Diversity in Human Interactions: The Tapestry of America|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-19-514390-6|page=82|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YexcCAAAQBAJ|access-date=February 23, 2022|chapter=On Native Soil: The Forgotten Race: American Indians}}</ref>

===Colonial ecological violence===
Colonial ecological violence, defined by sociologist J. M. Bacon as the result of eco-social disruptions that "generate colonial ecological violence, a unique form of violence perpetrated by the settler-colonial state, private industry, and settler-colonial culture as a whole."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bacon |first=J.M. |title=Settler Colonialism as Eco-Social Structure and the Production of Colonial Ecological Violence |publisher=Environmental Sociology |year=2018 |edition=Vol 5, no. 1}}</ref> The relocation and displacement of Native peoples is a result of the colonizer mindset that land is a commodity. By removing these communities from their Native land, settlers are preventing the ways of life and the use of culture-affirming resources. Gilio-Whitaker, highlights some of the ways in which these practices are reinforced, with the concept of environmental deprivation – "historical processes of land and resource dispossession calculated to bring about the destruction of Indigenous lives and cultures." The reason these lands are so important to Native populations is because, “Since a strong component of many Indigenous cultures is a robust relationship to place, it serves to reason that forced removals, settler resource appropriation, and the ecological damage perpetuated by US settle colonial society contribute to significant "conflict" between "traditional cultural values" and "those of majority culture".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilio-Whitaker |first=Dina |title=As Long as Grass Grows : The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock |publisher=S.L. Beacon |year=2019}}</ref>

====Colonial ecological violence in the Pacific Northwest====
The Karuk tribe in Klamath, California are one of the many victims to colonial ecological violence. One of the major ways of life to the Karuk tribe is the use of fires to maintain and regulate their environment. Sociologist Kari Marie Norgaard goes into detail about how colonialism disrupted these ways of life. These fires were also used to correct travel routes and optimized hunting, which is a major part of Karuk life. In 1905, the Klamath National Forest was established which prevented the burning of fires on Karuk land- "Fire exclusion, then, has simultaneously produced indigenous exclusion, erasure, and replacement." Norgaard explains that this land is one of the most economically wealthy spots due to the establishment of the forest, which only further demonstrates the ways in which settler-colonialism enables and continues to negatively impact the land that Indigenous people live(d) on.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norgaard |first=Kari Marie |title=Salmon and Acorns Feed Our People : Colonialism, Nature, and Social Action |publisher=New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press |year=2019}}</ref>

====Colonial ecological violence in the Great Lakes region of North America====
The Potawatomi tribe had long occupied the Great Lakes region of Northern America, up until they were displaced and spread out around the US. They had previously lived on 30 million acres of land, building cultural, familial, and other-than-human relationships for generations. (Whyte, 2016) Citizen Potawatomi environmental philosopher Kyle Powys Whyte highlights the ways in which this displacement has had violent and detrimental impacts on the tribe. “The consequences of capitalist economics, such as deforestation, water pollution, the clearing of land for large scale agriculture and urbanization, generate immediate disruptions on ecosystems "rapidly" rendering them very different from what they were like before, undermining Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous peoples' capacity to cultivate landscapes and adjust to environmental change.”<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Whyte |first=Kyle |date= |title=Is It Colonial Déjà Vu? Indigenous Peoples and Climate Injustice |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2925277 |journal=Humanities for the Environment: Integrating Knowledges, Forging New Constellations of Practice|ssrn=2925277 }}</ref>

====Colonial ecological violence in the Northeast====
The [[Miami Tribe of Oklahoma|Miami tribe]], which now occupies Oklahoma, once resided in Oxford, Ohio, where Miami University now is placed. Historian Jeffrey Ostler provides insight into the forced movement of the Miami tribe off their land. In 1818, the tribe agreed to give up a large amount of land to U.S. officials (enough to create twenty-two Indiana counties. It was not until 1826 that Lewis Cass informed them and nearby Potawatomi, "You must remove or perish."<ref name=":0" /> This plan did not work, but the officials persisted and eventually the Miami tribe would be forced off their land in 1846. Miami University has a land acknowledgement document and a center dedicated to working with the Miami tribe of Oklahoma, though this is the only tribe from the original Miami tribe that is accredited by the U.S. government.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miami Tribe Relations |url=https://miamioh.edu/miami-tribe-relations/index.html |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=Miami University |language=en}}</ref>

===Gambling industry===
{{Main|Native American gaming}}
[[File:Sandia Casino, detail.jpg|thumb|Sandia Casino, owned by the [[Sandia Pueblo]] of [[New Mexico]]]]

Because [[Indian reservation]]s have [[tribal sovereignty]], states have limited ability to forbid gambling there, as codified by the [[Indian Gaming Regulatory Act]] of 1988. Tribes run [[casino]]s, [[Bingo (U.S.)|bingo]] halls, and other [[gambling]] operations, and as of 2011, there were 460 such operations run by 240 tribes,<ref>{{cite report|title=Gaming Tribe Report|publisher=National Indian Gaming Commission|date=July 6, 2011|url=http://www.nigc.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=0J7Yk1QNgX0%3d&tabid=943|access-date=2013-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220134916/http://www.nigc.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=0J7Yk1QNgX0%3d&tabid=943|archive-date=February 20, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> with a total annual revenue of $27 billion.<ref>{{cite report|title=NIGC Tribal Gaming Revenues|publisher=National Indian Gaming Commission|date=2011|url=http://www.nigc.gov/Portals/0/NIGC%20Uploads/Tribal%20Data/GamingRevenues20072011.pdf|access-date=2013-02-18|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010012057/http://www.nigc.gov/Portals/0/NIGC%20Uploads/Tribal%20Data/GamingRevenues20072011.pdf|archive-date=2012-10-10}}</ref>

===Financial services===
Numerous tribes around the country have entered the financial services market including the [[Otoe-Missouria]], [[Tunica-Biloxi]], and the [[Rosebud Indian Reservation|Rosebud Sioux]]. Because of the challenges involved in starting a financial services business from scratch, many tribes hire outside consultants and vendors to help them launch these businesses and manage the regulatory issues involved.
Similar to the tribal sovereignty debates that occurred when tribes first entered the gaming industry, the tribes, states, and federal government are currently in disagreement regarding who possesses the authority to regulate these e-commerce business entities.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Online Sovereignty: The Law and Economics of Tribal Electronic Commerce|ssrn=2740181|journal=Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law|date=March 2016|last1=Claw|first1=Carma|last2=Spilde|first2=Katherine A.|author2-link=Katherine Spilde|last3=Clarkson|first3=Esq}}</ref>

===Crime on reservations===
Prosecution of serious crime, historically endemic on reservations,<ref name=DOJStat>{{cite web|title=A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992–2002 American Indians and Crime|url=https://www.justice.gov/otj/pdf/american_indians_and_crime.pdf|publisher=U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs|access-date=June 2, 2012|first=Steven W.|last=Perry|date=December 2004}}</ref><ref name=MLRWashburn>{{cite journal|title=American Indians, Crime, and the Law|journal=Michigan Law Review|date=February 2006|volume=104|pages=709 to 778|url=http://www.michiganlawreview.org/assets/pdfs/104/4/Washburn.pdf#|access-date=June 2, 2012|first=Kevin K.|last=Washburn|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311021000/http://www.michiganlawreview.org/assets/pdfs/104/4/Washburn.pdf|archive-date=March 11, 2012}}</ref> was required by the 1885 Major Crimes Act,<ref name=DP1885>{{cite news|title=1885 law at root of jurisdictional jumble|url=http://www.denverpost.com/lawlesslands/ci_7422829|access-date=June 2, 2012|work=The Denver Post|date=November 11, 2007|first=Michael|last=Riley}}</ref> 18 U.S.C. §§1153, 3242, and court decisions to be investigated by the federal government, usually the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], and prosecuted by [[United States Attorney]]s of the [[United States federal judicial district]] in which the reservation lies.<ref name="DP2010">[http://www.denverpost.com/frontpage/ci_15373276? "Expansion of tribal courts' authority passes Senate"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043343/http://www.denverpost.com/frontpage/ci_15373276 |date=March 4, 2016}} article by Michael Riley in ''[[The Denver Post]]'' Posted: 25 June 2010 01:00:00 AM MDT Updated: 25 June 2010 02:13:47 AM MDT Accessed June 25, 2010.</ref><ref name="DP730">[http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15636761 "President Obama signs tribal-justice changes"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304082720/http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15636761 |date=March 4, 2016}} article by Michael Riley in ''[[The Denver Post]]'', Posted: 30 July 2010 01:00:00 AM MDT, Updated: 30 July 2010 06:00:20 AM MDT, accessed July 30, 2010.</ref><ref name="DP2007">[http://www.denverpost.com/lawlesslands "Lawless Lands"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094730/http://www.denverpost.com/lawlesslands |date=March 4, 2016}} a 4-part series in ''[[The Denver Post]]'' last updated November 21, 2007</ref><ref name=NYT111212>{{cite news|title=Washington Steps Back From Policing Indian Lands, Even as Crime Rises|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/us/as-crime-rises-on-indian-lands-policing-is-cut-back.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113023633/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/us/as-crime-rises-on-indian-lands-policing-is-cut-back.html |archive-date=2012-11-13 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=November 13, 2012|work=The New York Times|date=November 12, 2012|first=Timothy|last=Williams}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/209839.htm "Public Law 280 and Law Enforcement in Indian Country – Research Priorities December 2005"], accessed August 12, 2010.</ref>

A December 13, 2009 ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article about growing [[Gangs in the United States|gang violence]] on the [[Pine Ridge Indian Reservation]] estimated that there were 39 gangs with 5,000 members on that reservation alone.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/us/14gangs.html?_r=1 Indian Gangs Grow, Bringing Fear and Violence to Reservation]". ''The New York Times''. December 13, 2009</ref> [[Navajo Nation|Navajo]] country recently reported 225 gangs in its territory.<ref>"[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112200614 Gang Violence On The Rise On Indian Reservations]". NPR: National Public Radio. August 25, 2009.</ref>

As of 2012, a high incidence of rape continued to impact Native American women and Alaskan native women. According to the Department of Justice, 1 in 3 Native women have suffered rape or attempted rape, more than twice the national rate.<ref name=NYTRape2012>{{cite news|title=For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/us/native-americans-struggle-with-high-rate-of-rape.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523073000/http://www.nytimes.com//2012/05/23/us/native-americans-struggle-with-high-rate-of-rape.html |archive-date=2012-05-23 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=May 23, 2012|work=The New York Times|date=May 22, 2012|first=Timonthy|last=Williams}}</ref> About 46 percent of Native American women have been raped, beaten, or stalked by an intimate partner, according to a 2010 study by the [[Centers for Disease Control]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Will the Violence Against Women Act Close a Tribal Justice "Loophole"?|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/biographies/kind-hearted-woman/will-the-violence-against-women-act-close-a-tribal-justice-loophole/ |work=[[PBS]]|date=February 4, 2013|first=Sarah|last=Childress}}</ref> According to Professor N. Bruce Duthu, "More than 80 percent of Indian victims identify their attacker as non-Indian".<ref name=NYTDuthu>{{cite news|title=Broken Justice in Indian Country|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/opinion/11duthu.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811111730/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/opinion/11duthu.html |archive-date=2008-08-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=June 7, 2012|work=The New York Times|date=August 10, 2008|author=N. Bruce Duthu|format=op-ed by expert}}</ref><ref name=NYT021013>{{cite news|title=Measure to Protect Women Stuck on Tribal Land Issue|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/us/politics/violence-against-women-act-held-up-by-tribal-land-issue.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211132940/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/us/politics/violence-against-women-act-held-up-by-tribal-land-issue.html |archive-date=2013-02-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=February 10, 2013|work=The New York Times|date=February 10, 2013|first=Jonathan|last=Weisman|quote=If a Native American is raped or assaulted by a non-Indian, she must plead for justice to already overburdened United States attorneys who are often hundreds of miles away.}}</ref>

===Barriers to economic development===
Today, other than tribes successfully running casinos, many tribes struggle, as they are often located on reservations isolated from the main economic centers of the country. The estimated 2.1&nbsp;million Native Americans are the most impoverished of all ethnic groups. According to the [[2000 United States census|2000 census]], an estimated 400,000 Native Americans reside on reservation land. While some tribes have had success with gaming, only 40% of the 562 federally recognized tribes operate [[casino]]s.<ref name="NIGA">{{cite web|url=http://www.indiangaming.org/library/indian-gaming-facts/index.shtml |title=NIGA: Indian Gaming Facts |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302072505/http://www.indiangaming.org/library/indian-gaming-facts/index.shtml |archive-date=March 2, 2013}}</ref> According to a 2007 survey by the [[U.S. Small Business Administration]], only 1% of Native Americans own and operate a business.<ref name="SBA">{{cite web|url=http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2007/December/20071221175918ABretnuH0.3369257.html|title=Number of U.S. Minority Owned Businesses Increasing|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020065312/http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2007/December/20071221175918ABretnuH0.3369257.html|archive-date=October 20, 2012}}</ref>

The barriers to [[economic development]] on Native American reservations have been identified by Joseph Kalt<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hpaied/people/kalt.htm |title=Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development |access-date=June 17, 2008 |last=Kalt |first=Joseph}}</ref> and [[Stephen Cornell]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://udallcenter.arizona.edu/staff/scornell.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619015224/http://udallcenter.arizona.edu/staff/scornell.html|archive-date=June 19, 2008 |title=Co-director, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development |access-date=June 17, 2008 |last=Cornell |first=Stephen}}</ref> of the [[Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development]] at [[Harvard University]], in their report: ''What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development'' (2008),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/docs/reloading%20the%20dice.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040407025730/http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/docs/reloading%20the%20dice.pdf |archive-date=April 7, 2004 |title=What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development|access-date=June 17, 2008 |last1=Cornell|first1=Stephen|last2=Kalt|first2=Kalt}}</ref> are summarized as follows:
* Lack of access to capital
* Lack of human capital (education, skills, technical expertise) and the means to develop it
* Reservations lack effective planning
* Reservations are poor in natural resources
* Reservations have natural resources but lack sufficient control over them
* Reservations are disadvantaged by their distance from markets and the high costs of transportation
* Tribes cannot persuade investors to locate on reservations because of intense competition from non-Native American communities
* The [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] is inept, corrupt or uninterested in reservation development
* Tribal politicians and bureaucrats are inept or corrupt
* On-reservation factionalism destroys stability in tribal decisions
* The instability of tribal government keeps outsiders from investing. The lack of international recognition Native American tribal sovereignty weakens their political-economic legitimacy.<ref name="NativeAmericanEconomicDevelopment">{{Cite journal|last1=Duffy|first1=Diane|last2=Stubben|first2=Jerry|date=Winter 1998|title=An Assessment of Native American Economic Development: Putting Culture and Sovereignty back in the Models|journal=Studies in Comparative International Development|volume=32|issue=4|pages=52–78|doi=10.1007/BF02712505|s2cid=154496567}}</ref> (Many tribes adopted constitutions by the 1934 [[Indian Reorganization Act]] model, with two-year terms for elected positions of chief and council members deemed too short by the authors for getting things done)
* Entrepreneurial skills and experience are scarce

[[File:(Teacher with picture cards giving English instruction to Navajo day school students.) - NARA - 295158.tif|thumb|Teacher with picture cards giving English instruction to Navajo day school students]]
A major barrier to development is the lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and experience within [[Indian reservations]]. "A general lack of education and experience about business is a significant challenge to prospective entrepreneurs", was the report on Native American [[entrepreneurship]] by the Northwest Area Foundation in 2004. "Native American communities that lack entrepreneurial traditions and recent experiences typically do not provide the support that entrepreneurs need to thrive. Consequently, experiential entrepreneurship education needs to be embedded into school curriculum and after-school and other community activities. This would allow students to learn the essential elements of entrepreneurship from a young age and encourage them to apply these elements throughout life".<ref name="CFED">{{cite web |url=http://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/content/cr.php?id=4&sel=5 |title=Native Entrepreneurship: Challenges and opportunities for rural communities&nbsp;— CFED, Northwest Area Foundation December 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222151900/http://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/content/cr.php?id=4&sel=5 |archive-date=February 22, 2013}}</ref>

===Discourse in Native American economic development===
Some scholars argue that the existing theories and practices of [[economic development]] are not suitable for Native American communities—given the lifestyle, economic, and cultural differences, as well as the unique history of Native American-U.S. relations.<ref name="NativeAmericanEconomicDevelopment" /> Little economic development research has been conducted on Native American communities. The federal government fails to consider place-based issues of American Indian poverty by generalizing the demographic.<ref name="NativeAmericanEconomicDevelopment" /><ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Mathers |first1=Rachel L. |title=The Failure of State-Led Economic Development on American Indian Reservations|url=https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_17_01_05_mathers.pdf |journal=The Independent Review |date=2012 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=65–80 |id={{ProQuest|1022994216}} |jstor=24563297}}</ref> In addition, the concept of economic development threatens to upend the multidimensionality of Native American culture.<ref name="NativeAmericanEconomicDevelopment" /> The dominance of federal government involvement in Indigenous developmental activities perpetuates and exacerbates the [http://www.panya.ca/publication_salvage_paradigm_introduction.php salvage paradigm].<ref name="NativeAmericanEconomicDevelopment" />

===Land ownership challenges===
Native land owned by individual Native Americans sometimes cannot be developed because of fractionalization. Fractionalization occurs when a landowner dies, and their land is inherited by their children, but not subdivided. This means that one parcel might be owned by 50 different individuals. A majority of those holding interest must agree to any proposal to develop the land, and establishing this consent is time-consuming, cumbersome, and sometimes impossible.

Another landownership issue on reservations is [[Checkerboarding (land)|checkerboarding]], where tribal land is interspersed with land owned by the federal government on behalf of Natives, individually owned plots, and land owned by non-Native individuals. This prevents Tribal governments from securing plots of land large enough for economic development or agricultural uses.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/files/Community-Investments-Fall-2013-Native-Communities.pdf |title=Community Development in Native Communities |magazine=Community Investments |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco |date=Fall 2013 |volume=25 |number=2}}</ref> Because reservation land is owned "in trust" by the federal government, individuals living on reservations cannot build equity in their homes. This bars Native Americans from getting loans, as there is nothing that a bank can collect if the loan is not paid. Past efforts to encourage land ownership (such as the Dawes Act) resulted in a net loss of Tribal land. After they were familiarized with their [[Smallholding|smallholder status]], Native American landowners were lifted of trust restrictions and their land would get transferred back to them, contingent on a transactional fee to the federal government. The transfer fee discouraged Native American land ownership, with 65% of tribal-owned land being sold to non-Native Americans by the 1920s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Van Winkle|first=Tony N.|date=Fall 2018|title=American Indian Landowners, Leasemen, and Bureaucrats: Property, Paper, and the Poli-Technics of Dispossession in Southwestern Oklahoma|journal=American Indian Quarterly|volume=42|issue=4|pages=508–533|doi=10.5250/amerindiquar.42.4.0508|s2cid=166125100}}</ref> Activists against property rights point to historical evidence of communal ownership of land and resources by tribes. They claim that because of this history, property rights are foreign to Natives and have no place in the modern reservation system. Those in favor of property rights cite examples of tribes negotiating with colonial communities or other tribes about fishing and hunting rights in an area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/native-americans-property-rights/492941/|title=Here's One Way to Help Native Americans: Property Rights|first=Naomi Schaefer|last=Riley|date=July 30, 2016|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> Land ownership was also a challenge because of the different definitions of land that the Natives and the Europeans had.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27058/27058-h/27058-h.htm#Footnote_A_1|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Indian Question, by Francis A. Walker.|website=gutenberg.org|access-date=December 11, 2019}}</ref> Most Native American tribes thought of property rights more as "borrowing" the land, while those from Europe thought of land as individual property.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=d'Errico|first=Peter|date=1999|title=Native Americans in America: A Theoretical and Historical Overview|journal=Wíčazo Ša Review|volume=14|issue=1|pages=7–28|doi=10.2307/1409513|issn=0749-6427|jstor=1409513|s2cid=155945579 }}</ref>

===Land ownership and bureaucratic challenges in historical context===
State-level efforts such as the [[Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act]] were attempts to contain tribal land in Native American hands. However, more bureaucratic decisions only expanded the bureaucracy. The knowledge disconnect between the decision-making bureaucracy and Native American stakeholders resulted in ineffective development efforts.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

Traditional Native American entrepreneurship does not prioritize [[profit maximization]]; rather, business transactions must align with Native American social and cultural values.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Colbourne|first=Rick|date=April 2017|title=An Understanding of Native American Entrepreneurship|journal=Small Enterprise Research|volume=24|pages=49–61|doi=10.1080/13215906.2017.1289856|s2cid=157839233}}</ref> In response to Indigenous business philosophy, the federal government created policies that aimed to formalize their business practices, which undermined the Native American status quo.<ref name=":3" /> Additionally, legal disputes interfered with tribal land leasing, which were settled with the verdict against [[Tribal sovereignty in the United States|tribal sovereignty]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crepelle|first=Adam|date=2018|title=Tribal Lending and Tribal Sovereignty|url=https://lawreviewdrake.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/crepelle-final.pdf|journal=Drake Law Review|volume=66}}</ref>

Often, bureaucratic overseers of development are far removed from Native American communities and lack the knowledge and understanding to develop plans or make resource allocation decisions.<ref name=":2" /> The top-down heavy involvement in developmental operations, does not mitigate incentives for bureaucrats to act in their self-interest. Such instances include reports that exaggerate results.<ref name=":2" />

===Geographic poverty===
While Native American urban poverty is attributed to hiring and workplace discrimination in a heterogeneous setting,<ref name="AmericanIndianPoverty" /> reservation and trust land poverty rates are endogenous to deserted opportunities in isolated regions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Whitney Mauer|first=K.|date=September 2017|title=Indian Country Poverty: Place-Based Poverty on American Indian Territories, 2006–10.|journal=Rural Sociology|volume=82|issue=3|pages=473–498|doi=10.1111/ruso.12130}}</ref>

===Trauma===

====Historical trauma====
[[Historical trauma]] is described as collective emotional and psychological damage throughout a person's lifetime and across multiple generations.<ref name=Myhra2011>Myhra, L. L. (2011). "It runs in the family": Intergenerational Transmission of Historical Trauma Among Urban American Indians and Alaska Natives in Culturally Specific Sobriety Maintenance Programs. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 18(2). 17–40. National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research.</ref> Examples of historical trauma can be seen through the [[Wounded Knee Massacre]] of 1890, where over 200 unarmed Lakota were killed,<ref name=Weaver>Weaver, H., & Congress, E. (2010). The Ongoing Impact of Colonization: Man-made Trauma and Native Americans. In A. Kalayjian & D. Eugene (Eds.), Mass Trauma and Emotional Healing Around the World: Rituals and Practices for Resilience and Meaning-Making (pp. 211–226). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.</ref> and the [[Dawes Allotment Act]] of 1887, when American Indians lost four-fifths of their land.<ref name=Brave>Braveheart-Jordan, M., & DeBruyn, L. (1995). So She May Walk in Balance: Integrating the Impact of Historical Trauma in the Treatment of Native American Indian Women. In J. Adleman & G. M. Enguidanos (Eds.), Racism in the Lives of Women: Testimony, Theory, and Guides to Antiracist Practice (pp. 345–366). Binghamton, New York: Harrington Park Press.</ref>

====Impacts of intergenerational trauma====
American Indian youth have higher rates of substance and alcohol use deaths than the general population.<ref name=Paul>{{cite journal | last1 = Paul | first1 = T. M. | last2 = Lusk | first2 = S. L. | last3 = Becton | first3 = A. B. | last4 = Glade | first4 = R. | year = 2017 | title = Exploring the Impact of Substance Abuse, Culture, and Trauma on American Indian Adolescents | journal = Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling | volume = 48 | issue = 1| pages = 31–39 | doi = 10.1891/0047-2220.48.1.31 | s2cid = 188697334}}</ref> Many American Indians can trace the beginning of their substance and alcohol use to a traumatic event related to their offender's own substance use.<ref name=Myhra2014>{{cite journal | last1 = Myhra | first1 = L. L. | last2 = Wieling | first2 = E. | year = 2014 | title = Psychological Trauma Among American Indian Families: A Two-Generation Study | journal = Journal of Loss and Trauma | volume = 19 | issue = 4| pages = 289–313 | doi = 10.1080/15325024.2013.771561 | s2cid = 144715014}}</ref> A person's substance use can be described as a defense mechanism against the user's emotions and trauma.<ref name=Cole>Cole, N. (2006). Trauma and the American Indian. In T. M. Witko (Ed.), Mental Health Care for Urban Indians: Clinical Insights from Native Practitioners (pp. 115–130). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.</ref> For American Indians alcoholism is a symptom of trauma passed from generation to generation and influenced by oppressive behaviors and policies by the dominant European-American society.<ref name=Coyhis>{{cite journal | last1 = Coyhis | first1 = D. | last2 = Simonelli | first2 = R. | year = 2008 | title = The Native American Healing Experience | journal = Substance Use & Misuse | volume = 43 | issue = 12–13| pages = 1927–1949 | doi = 10.1080/10826080802292584 | pmid = 19016172 | s2cid = 20769339}}</ref> Boarding schools were made to "Kill the Indian, Save the man".<ref name=Gray>{{cite journal | last1 = Grayshield | first1 = L. | last2 = Rutherford | first2 = J. J. | last3 = Salazar | first3 = S. B. | last4 = Mihecoby | first4 = A. L. | last5 = Luna | first5 = L. L. | year = 2015 | title = Understanding and Healing Historical Trauma: The Perspectives of Native American Elders | journal = Journal of Mental Health Counseling | volume = 37 | issue = 4| pages = 295–307 | doi =  10.17744/mehc.37.4.02| s2cid = 74255741}}</ref> Shame among American Indians can be attributed to the hundreds of years of oppression and annihilation.<ref name=Cole />

===Food insecurity===
[[File:Native food demonstration, table filled with wooden bowls of beans, grains, and produce (23de14d7-eb2b-439c-b06f-9338dcb79f75).JPG|alt=An older Native American woman talks behind a table of beans, grains, and other produce. She is demonstrating the different traditional Native American foods.|thumb|A Native American woman talks behind a table of bowls of beans, grains, and other produce at an Indigenous food demonstration.]]
Studies are being conducted which show Native Americans often experience higher rates of food insecurity than other racial groups in the United States. The studies do not focus on the overall picture of Native American households, however, and tend to focus rather on smaller sample sizes in the available research.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gunderson |first1=Craig |title=Measuring the Extent, Depth, and Severity of Food Insecurity: An Application to American Indians in the USA |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40344400 |journal=Journal of Population Economics |year=2008 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=191–215 |doi=10.1007/s00148-007-0152-9 |jstor=40344400 |s2cid=18268261 |access-date=December 2, 2021}}</ref> In a study that evaluated the level of food insecurity among Indigenous Americans, White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian: it was reported that over the 10-year span of 2000–2010, Indigenous people were reported to be one of the highest at-risk groups from a lack of access to adequate food, reporting anywhere from 20% to 30% of households suffering from this type of insecurity. There are many reasons that contribute to the issue, but overall, the biggest lie in high food costs on or near reservations, lack of access to well-paying jobs, and predisposition to health issues relating to obesity and mental health.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jerrigan |first1=Valarie Blue Bird |last2=Huyser |first2=Kimberly |last3=Valdes |first3=Jimmy |last4=Simonds |first4=Vanessa |title=Food Insecurity among American Indians and Alaska Natives: A National Profile using the Current Population Survey–Food Security Supplement |journal=Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition |year=2016 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.1080/19320248.2016.1227750 |pmid=28491205 |pmc=5422031}}</ref>

==Society, language, and culture==
{{Main|Native American cultures of the United States}}
{{Further|Category:Archaeological cultures of North America}}
[[File:Warm Springs.jpg|thumb|Three Native American women in Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Wasco County, Oregon (1902)]]

The culture of Pre-Columbian North America is usually defined by the concept of the culture area, namely a geographical region where shared cultural traits occur. The northwest culture area, for example, shared common traits such as salmon fishing, woodworking, and large villages or towns and a hierarchical social structure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American|title=Native American &#124; History, Art, Culture, & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=May 25, 2023 }}</ref> Ethnographers generally [[Classification of Indigenous peoples of the Americas|classify the Indigenous peoples of North America]] into ten cultural areas based on geographical region.

Though cultural features, language, clothing, and customs vary enormously from one tribe to another, there are certain elements which are encountered frequently and shared by many tribes. Early European American scholars described the Native Americans as having a society dominated by [[clan]]s.<ref name="Morgan1907">{{Cite book|last=Morgan|first=Lewis H.|author-link=Lewis H. Morgan|title=Ancient Society|publisher=Charles H. Kerr & Company|year=1907|location=Chicago|pages=70–71, 113|isbn=978-0-674-03450-1}}</ref>

European colonization of the Americas had a major impact on Native American cultures through what is known as the [[Columbian exchange]], also known as the ''Columbian interchange'', which was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas between the [[Americas]] and Eurasia (the [[Old World]]) in the 15th and 16th centuries, following [[Christopher Columbus]]'s [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus#First voyage (1492–1493)|1492 voyage]].<ref name = "history">{{cite journal |last1= Nunn |first1= Nathan |last2= Qian |first2= Nancy |year= 2010 |title= The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas |journal= [[Journal of Economic Perspectives]] |volume= 24 |issue= 2 |pages= 163–188 |jstor= 25703506 |doi= 10.1257/jep.24.2.163 |url= http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11986330 |citeseerx= 10.1.1.232.9242}}</ref> The Columbian exchange generally had a destructive impact on Native American cultures through disease, and a 'clash of cultures',<ref name=Emmer2003>{{cite journal |last1=Emmer |first1=Pieter |title=The myth of early globalization: the Atlantic economy, 1500–1800 |journal=European Review |date=2003 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=37–47 |id={{ProQuest|217337459}} |doi=10.1017/S106279870300005X |s2cid=144318805}}</ref> whereby European values of private land ownership, the family, and division of labor, led to conflict, appropriation of traditional communal lands and changed how the Indigenous tribes practiced slavery.<ref name=Emmer2003/>

[[File:GeronimoRinehart.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Geronimo]], Chiricahua Apache leader. Photograph by [[Frank Rinehart|Frank A. Rinehart]] (1898).]]
The impact of the Columbian exchange was not entirely negative, however. For example, the re-introduction of the horse to North America allowed the Plains Indians to revolutionize their ways of life by making hunting, trading, and warfare far more effective, and to greatly improve their ability to transport possessions and move their settlements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.na.038|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains – HORSE|website=plainshumanities.unl.edu}}</ref>

The Great Plains tribes were still hunting the bison when they first encountered the Europeans. The Spanish reintroduction of the horse to North America in the 17th century and Native Americans' learning to use them greatly altered the Native Americans' cultures, including changing the way in which they hunted large game. Horses became such a valuable, central element of Native lives that they were counted as a measure of wealth by many tribes.

In the early years, as Native peoples encountered European explorers and settlers and engaged in trade, they exchanged food, crafts, and furs for blankets, iron and steel implements, horses, trinkets, firearms, and alcoholic beverages.

===Ethno-linguistic classification===
{{Main|Indigenous languages of the Americas}}
{{See also|American Indian English}}
[[File:Langs N.Amer.png|thumb|upright=1.75|Pre-contact: distribution of North American language families, including northern Mexico]]

The [[Na-Dené languages|Na-Dené]], [[Algic languages|Algic]], and [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] families are the largest in terms of the number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95&nbsp;million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5&nbsp;million speakers of [[Nahuatl]]); Na-Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of [[Navajo language|Navajo]]), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly [[Cree language|Cree]] and [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]). Na-Dené and Algic have the widest geographic distributions: Algic currently spans from northeastern Canada across much of the continent down to northeastern Mexico (due to later migrations of the [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]]) with two outliers in [[California]] ([[Yurok language|Yurok]] and [[Wiyot language|Wiyot]]); Na-Dené spans from Alaska and western Canada through [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Oregon]], and California to the [[Southwestern United States|U.S. Southwest]] and northern Mexico (with one outlier in the Plains). Several families consist of only 2 or 3 languages. Demonstrating genetic relationships has proved difficult due to the great linguistic diversity present in North America. Two large (super-) family proposals, [[Penutian languages|Penutian]] and [[Hokan languages|Hokan]] have potential. However, even after decades of research, a large number of families remain.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Words used in English have been [[List of English words from indigenous languages of the Americas|derived from Native American languages]].

====Language education====
{{See also|Massachusett language#Current status}}
[[File:Cherokeeclass.png|thumb|left|[[Oklahoma]] Cherokee language immersion school student writing in the [[Cherokee syllabary]]]]
[[File:CherokeeKituwahAcademy.png|thumb|The Cherokee language taught to preschoolers as a [[first language]], at [[New Kituwah Academy]]]]

To counteract a shift to English, some Native American tribes have initiated language immersion schools for children, where an Indigenous American language is the medium of instruction. For example, the [[Cherokee Nation]] initiated a 10-year language preservation plan that involved raising new fluent speakers of the [[Cherokee language]] from childhood on up through school immersion programs as well as a collaborative community effort to continue to use the language at home.<ref>{{cite web| title = Native Now : Language: Cherokee| website = We Shall Remain – American Experience – PBS| access-date = April 9, 2014| year = 2008| url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/language_cherokee| archive-date = April 7, 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140407132754/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/language_cherokee| url-status = dead}}</ref> This plan was part of an ambitious goal that, in 50 years, will result in 80% or more of the Cherokee people being fluent in the language.<ref name="preservation" /> The [[Cherokee Preservation Foundation]] has invested $3&nbsp;million in opening schools, training teachers, and developing curricula for language education, as well as initiating community gatherings where the language can be actively used.<ref name="preservation">{{cite web|title=Cherokee Language Revitalization |website=Cherokee Preservation Foundation |access-date=April 9, 2014 |year=2014 |url=http://www.cherokeepreservationfdn.org/cultural-preservation-connect/major-programs-and-initiatives/cherokee-language-revitalization |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407070520/http://www.cherokeepreservationfdn.org/cultural-preservation-connect/major-programs-and-initiatives/cherokee-language-revitalization |archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> Formed in 2006, the Kituwah Preservation & Education Program (KPEP) on the [[Qualla Boundary]] focuses on language immersion programs for children from birth to [[fifth grade]], developing cultural resources for the general public and community language programs to foster the Cherokee language among adults.<ref name="kpep">Kituwah Preservation & Education Program Powerpoint, by Renissa Walker (2012)'. 2012. Print.{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref>

There is also a Cherokee language immersion school in [[Tahlequah, Oklahoma]], that educates students from pre-school through eighth grade.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Chavez, Will| title = Immersion students win trophies at language fair| work = Cherokeephoenix.org| access-date = April 8, 2013| date = April 5, 2012| url = http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/6142}}</ref> Because Oklahoma's official language is English, Cherokee immersion students are hindered when taking state-mandated tests because they have little competence in English.<ref name="immersion">{{cite web|url=http://www.youthonrace.org/cherokee-immersion-school-strives-to-save-tribal-language |title=Cherokee Immersion School Strives to Save Tribal Language |publisher=Youth on Race |access-date=June 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703212619/http://www.youthonrace.org/cherokee-immersion-school-strives-to-save-tribal-language |archive-date=July 3, 2014}}</ref> The Department of Education of Oklahoma said that in 2012 state tests: 11% of the school's sixth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 25% showed proficiency in reading; 31% of the seventh-graders showed proficiency in math, and 87% showed proficiency in reading; 50% of the eighth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 78% showed proficiency in reading.<ref name="immersion" /> The Oklahoma Department of Education listed the charter school as a Targeted Intervention school, meaning the school was identified as a low-performing school but has not so that it was a Priority School.<ref name="immersion" /> Ultimately, the school made a C, or a 2.33 grade point average on the state's A-F report card system.<ref name="immersion" /> The report card shows the school getting an F in mathematics achievement and mathematics growth, a C in social studies achievement, a D in reading achievement, and an A in reading growth and student attendance.<ref name="immersion" /> "The C we made is tremendous", said school principal Holly Davis, "[t]here is no English instruction in our school's younger grades, and we gave them this test in English."<ref name="immersion" /> She said she had anticipated the low grade because it was the school's first year as a state-funded [[charter school]], and many students had difficulty with English.<ref name="immersion" /> Eighth graders who graduate from the Tahlequah immersion school are fluent speakers of the language, and they usually go on to attend [[Sequoyah High School (Tahlequah, Oklahoma)|Sequoyah High School]] where classes are taught in both English and Cherokee.

===Indigenous foodways===
{{Further|Indigenous cuisine of the Americas|Inuit cuisine|Eastern Agricultural Complex}}
[[File:1940 govt photo minnesota farming scene chippewa baby teething on magazine indians at work.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ojibwe]] baby waits on a [[cradleboard]] while parents tend [[wild rice]] crops ([[Minnesota]], 1940).]]

Historical diets of Native Americans differed dramatically from region to region. Different peoples might have relied more heavily on agriculture, horticulture, hunting, fishing, or gathering wild plants and fungi. Tribes developed diets best suited to their environments.

[[Iñupiat]], [[Yupiit]], [[Unangan]], and fellow [[Alaska Natives]] fished, hunted, and harvested wild plants, but did not rely on agriculture. Coastal peoples relied more heavily on sea mammals, fish, and fish eggs, while inland peoples hunted [[caribou]] and [[moose]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards and Office of Research and Development |title=Mercury study report to Congress |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xoDFgHQ_TqUC&q=Alaska%20Native%20diet%20caribou%20sea%20mammals&pg=RA2-SA4-PA44 |publisher=US EPA |pages=4–44 |date=December 1997|isbn=9781428903722}}</ref> Alaskan Natives prepared and preserved dried and smoked meat and fish.

[[File:Frybread taco.jpg|thumb|left|[[Frybread]], made into an [[Taco#Indian taco|Indian taco]]]]
[[Pacific Northwest]] tribes crafted seafaring [[dugout canoe]]s {{convert|40|–|50|ft}} long for fishing.
In the [[Eastern Woodlands]], early peoples independently invented agricultural and by 1800 BCE developed the crops of the [[Eastern Agricultural Complex]], which include squash (''[[Cucurbita pepo]] ssp. ovifera''), sunflower (''[[Helianthus annuus]] var. macrocarpus''), goosefoot (''[[Chenopodium berlandieri]]''), and marsh elder (''[[Iva annua]] var. macrocarpa'').<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Bruce D. |last2=Yarnell |first2=Richard A. |title=Initial formation of an indigenous crop complex in eastern North America at 3800 B.P |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=April 21, 2009 |volume=106 |issue=16 |pages=6561–6566 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0901846106 |pmid=19366669 |pmc=2666091 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/agriculture/htmls/people/native/peo_na.html|title=Illinois Agriculture – People – Native American Settlement|website=museum.state.il.us|access-date=January 31, 2018}}</ref>

The [[Sonoran Desert]] region including parts of [[Arizona]] and [[California]], part of a region known as [[Aridoamerica]], relied heavily on the [[tepary bean]] (''[[Phaseolus acutifolius]]'') as a staple crop. This and other desert crops, [[mesquite]] bead pods, ''tunas'' ([[Opuntia ficus-indica|prickly pear]] fruit), cholla buds, [[saguaro]] cactus fruit, and [[Acorn#Use by Native Americans|acorns]] are being actively promoted today by Tohono O'odham Community Action.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoover |first1=Elizabeth |title=Tohono O'odham Community Action (TOCA), Sells AZ |url=https://gardenwarriorsgoodseeds.com/2014/09/17/toho-oodham-community-action-toca-sells-az/ |date=September 17, 2014}}</ref> In the Southwest, some communities developed [[irrigation]] techniques while others, such as the [[Hopi]] dry-farmed. They filled storehouses with grain as protection against the area's frequent [[droughts]].

[[File:Zea mays.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Maize]] grown by Native Americans]]
[[Maize]] or [[corn]], first cultivated in what is now [[Mexico]] was traded north into Aridoamerica and [[Oasisamerica]], [[Southwestern United States|southwest]]. From there, maize cultivation spread throughout the [[Great Plains]] and [[Eastern Woodlands]] by 200 CE. Native farmers practiced [[Polyculture|polycropping]] maize, beans, and squash; these crops are known as the [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|Three Sisters]]. The beans would replace the [[nitrogen]], which the maize leached from the ground, as well as using corn stalks for support for climbing. The deficiencies of a diet heavily dependent on maize were mitigated by the common practice among Native Americans of converting maize kernels into [[hominy]] in a process called [[Nixtamalization]].<ref name="Johnson|Marston">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Emily S. |last2=Marston |first2=John M. |title=The Experimental Identification of Nixtamalized Maize though Starch Spherulites |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |date=2019 |volume=113 |page=1 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2019.105056 |s2cid=213614308 |url=https://www.bu.edu/archaeology/files/2019/12/Johnson.Marston.JAS_.11.20.19.pdf |access-date=15 January 2023}}</ref>

The [[Gender roles in agriculture|agriculture gender roles]] of the Native Americans varied from region to region. In the Southwest area, men prepared the soil with [[Hoe (tool)|hoes]]. The women were in charge of [[planting]], [[weeding]], and [[harvesting]] the crops. In most other regions, the women were in charge of most agriculture, including clearing the land. Clearing the land was an immense chore since the Native Americans rotated fields.

Europeans in the eastern part of the continent observed that Native Americans cleared large areas for cropland. Their fields in [[New England]] sometimes covered hundreds of acres. Colonists in [[Virginia]] noted thousands of acres under cultivation by Native Americans.<ref name="Krech">{{Cite book |last=Krech III |first=Shepard |title=The ecological Indian: myth and history |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. |location=New York, New York |year=1999 |edition=1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ecologicalindian0000krec/page/107 107] |isbn=978-0-393-04755-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/ecologicalindian0000krec/page/107}}</ref>

[[File:The King of the Seas in the Hands of the Makahs - 1910.jpg|thumb|[[Makah people|Makah]] Native Americans and a whale, ''The King of the Seas in the Hands of the Makahs'', 1910 photograph by [[Asahel Curtis]]]]
Early farmers commonly used tools such as the [[Hoe (tool)|hoe]], [[Sledgehammer|maul]], and [[dibber]]. The hoe was the main tool used to till the land and prepare it for planting; then it was used for weeding. The first versions were made out of [[wood]] and [[stone]]. When the settlers brought [[iron]], Native Americans switched to iron hoes and [[hatchets]]. The dibber was a digging stick, used to plant the seed. Once the plants were harvested, women prepared the produce for eating. They used the maul to grind the corn into a mash. It was cooked and eaten that way or baked as cornbread.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/agriculture-american-indians? |website=Answers.com |title=American Indian Agriculture |access-date=February 8, 2008}}</ref>

===Religion===
{{Main|Native American religions}}
[[File:Baptism of Pocahontas.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Baptism of Pocahontas]]'' was painted in 1840 by [[John Gadsby Chapman]], who depicts [[Pocahontas]], wearing white, being baptized Rebecca by Anglican minister Alexander Whiteaker (left) in Jamestown, Virginia. This event is believed to have taken place either in 1613 or 1614.]]

Native American religious practices, beliefs, and philosophies differ widely across tribes. These [[Spirituality|spiritualities]], practices, beliefs, and philosophies may accompany adherence to another faith or can represent a person's primary religious, faith, spiritual or philosophical identity. Much Native American spirituality exists in a tribal-cultural continuum, and as such cannot be easily separated from tribal identity itself.

Cultural spiritual, philosophical, and faith ways differ from tribe to tribe and person to person. Some tribes include the use of sacred leaves and herbs such as tobacco, [[Hierochloe odorata|sweetgrass]] or [[Leucophyllum|sage]]. Many Plains tribes have [[sweatlodge]] ceremonies, though the specifics of the ceremony vary among tribes. Fasting, singing and prayer in the ancient languages of their people, and sometimes [[Native American music|drumming]] are common.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Levine |first1=Victoria Lindsay |title=Native American Music |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Native-American-music |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=June 16, 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Saint John Neumann Catholic Church (Sunbury, Ohio) - interior, statue of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Saint Kateri Tekakwitha]], the patron of [[ecologist]]s, [[wikt:exile#Noun|exiles]], and orphans, was canonized by the [[Catholic Church]]]]
The [[Midewiwin|Midewiwin Lodge]] is a medicine society inspired by the oral history and prophesies of the [[Ojibwa]] (Chippewa) and related tribes.

Another significant religious body among Native peoples is known as the [[Native American Church]]. It is a [[Syncretism|syncretistic]] church incorporating elements of Native spiritual practice from a number of different tribes as well as symbolic elements from [[Christianity]]. Its main rite is the [[peyote]] ceremony. Prior to 1890, traditional religious beliefs included [[Wakan Tanka]]. In the American Southwest, especially [[New Mexico]], a syncretism between the [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] brought by Spanish missionaries and the native religion is common; the religious drums, chants, and dances of the [[Pueblo people]] are regularly part of [[Mass (liturgy)|Masses]] at [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]'s [[Saint Francis Cathedral]].<ref>[http://www.csp.org/communities/docs/fikes-nac_history.html A Brief History of the Native American Church] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821191748/http://www.csp.org/communities/docs/fikes-nac_history.html |date=August 21, 2007}} by Jay Fikes. Retrieved February 22, 2006.</ref> Native American-Catholic syncretism is also found elsewhere in the United States. (e.g., the National [[Kateri Tekakwitha]] Shrine in [[Fonda, New York]], and the [[National Shrine of the North American Martyrs]] in [[Auriesville, New York]]). Some Native American tribes who practice Christianity, including the [[Lumbee]], organized denominations, such as the [[Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church]].<ref name="Melton2003">{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |title=Encyclopedia of American Religions |date=2003 |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |isbn=978-0-7876-6384-1 |page=423 |language=English}}</ref>

The [[eagle feather law]] (Title 50 Part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations) stipulates that only individuals of certifiable Native American ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain [[eagle]] feathers for religious or spiritual use. The law does not allow Native Americans to give eagle feathers to non-Native Americans.<ref>{{cite book |title=Proposed Amendments to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act: March 8, 1993, Minneapolis, MN |date=1993 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=17}}</ref>

===Gender roles===
{{Main|Gender roles among the indigenous peoples of North America|Clan Mother (disambiguation){{!}}Clan Mother|Matriarchy|Matrilineality|Two-Spirit}}
[[File:Doctor.susan.la.flesche.picotte.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Susan La Flesche Picotte]] was the first Native American woman to become a [[physician]] in the United States.]]

Gender roles are differentiated in many Native American tribes. Many Natives have retained traditional expectations of sexuality and gender and continue to do so in contemporary life despite continued and on-going colonial pressures.<ref name=Estrada>{{cite journal |last1=Estrada |first1=Gabriel |title=Two Spirits, Nádleeh, and LGBTQ2 Navajo Gaze |journal=American Indian Culture and Research Journal |date=January 1, 2011 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=167–190 |doi=10.17953/aicr.35.4.x500172017344j30|doi-broken-date=November 19, 2024 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/08c129mf }}</ref>

Whether a particular tribe is predominantly [[Matrilineality|matrilineal]] or [[patrilineal]], often both sexes have some degree of decision-making power within the tribe. Many Nations, such as the [[Haudenosaunee]] Five Nations and the Southeast Muskogean tribes, have matrilineal or [[Haudenosaunee Clan Mother|Clan Mother]] systems, in which property and hereditary leadership are controlled by and passed through the maternal lines.<ref name=Thomas>{{cite web|last=Thomas |first=Katsithawi |title=Gender Roles among the Iroquois |url=https://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/publications/native-circle/native-circle-2003/ashley-thomas3.pdf}}</ref> In these Nations, the children are considered to belong to the mother's clan. In [[Cherokee people|Cherokee]] culture, women own the family property. When traditional young women marry, their husbands may join them in their mother's household.

Matrilineal structures enable young women to have assistance in childbirth and rearing and protect them in case of conflicts between the couple. If a couple separates or the man dies, the woman has her family to assist her. In matrilineal cultures the mother's brothers are usually the leading male figures in her children's lives; fathers have no standing in their wife and children's clan, as they still belong to their own mother's clan. Hereditary clan chief positions pass through the mother's line and chiefs have historically been selected on the recommendations of women elders, who could also disapprove of a chief.<ref name=Thomas/>

[[File:George Catlin - Ball-play of the Women, Prairie du Chien - 1985.66.430 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|thumb|Ball-play of the women, painting by [[George Catlin]], {{Circa|1835}}]]
In the [[patrilineal]] tribes, such as the [[Omaha]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Ponca]], and [[Lakota people|Lakota]], hereditary leadership passes through the male line, and children are considered to belong to the father and his [[clan]]. In patrilineal tribes, if a woman marries a non-Native, she is no longer considered part of the tribe, and her children are considered to share the ethnicity and culture of their father.<ref name="TrueLogan">[http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/collections/vol19/v19p064.htm Melvin Randolph Gilmore, "The True Logan Fontenelle"], ''Publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society'', Vol. 19, edited by Albert Watkins, Nebraska State Historical Society, 1919, p. 64, at GenNet, accessed August 25, 2011</ref>

In patriarchal tribes, gender roles tend to be rigid. Men have historically hunted, traded and made war while, as life-givers, women have primary responsibility for the survival and welfare of the families (and future of the tribe). Women usually gather and cultivate plants, use plants and herbs to treat illnesses, care for the young and the elderly, make all the clothing and instruments, and process and cure meat and skins from the game. Some mothers use [[cradleboard]]s to carry an infant while working or traveling.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030302141755/http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_013100_gender.htm Beatrice Medicine], "Gender", ''Encyclopedia of North American Indians'', February 9, 2006.</ref> In matriarchal and egalitarian nations, the gender roles are usually not so clear-cut and are even less so in the modern era.<ref name=Estrada/>

At least several dozen tribes allowed [[polygyny]] to sisters, with procedural and economic limits.<ref name="Morgan1907"/>

[[Sioux|Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota]] girls are encouraged to learn to ride, hunt and fight.<ref>Zinn, Howard (2005). ''A People's History of the United States: 1492–present'', Harper Perennial Modern Classics. {{ISBN|0-06-083865-5}}.</ref> Though fighting in war has mostly been left to the boys and men, occasionally women have fought as well, both in battles and in defense of the home, especially if the tribe was severely threatened.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bluecloud.org/battle.html |title=Women in Battle |access-date=January 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618203223/http://www.bluecloud.org/battle.html |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |url-status=dead |website=Bluecloud}}</ref>

===Modern education===
{{As of|2020}} 90% of Native American school-aged children attend public schools operated by school districts.<ref name=Woodsgetsaway>{{cite news|last=Woods|first=Alden|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/the-federal-government-gives-native-students-an-inadequate-education-and-gets-away-with-it|title=The Federal Government Gives Native Students an Inadequate Education, and Gets Away With It|agency=[[The Arizona Republic]]|publisher=[[ProPublica]]|date=August 6, 2020|access-date=July 29, 2021}}</ref> Tribally-operated schools under contracts/grants with the [[Bureau of Indian Education]] (BIE) and direct BIE-operated schools take about 8% of Native American students,<ref>{{cite web|last=Woods|first=Alden|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2020/09/28/bureau-of-indian-education-fails-provide-native-students-computers-home-learning/3537199001/|title=Feds promised Native American students computers and internet. Many are still waiting|newspaper=[[The Arizona Republic]]|date=September 28, 2020|access-date=July 29, 2021}}</ref> including students who live in very rural remote areas.<ref name=Woodsgetsaway/>

In 1978, 215,000 (78%) of Native Americans attended school district-operated public schools, 47,000 (17%) attended schools directly operated by the BIA, 2,500 (1%) attended tribal or other schools that contracted with the BIA, and the remaining 9,000 (3%) attended missionary schools for Native American children or other private schools.<ref>{{cite web|editor1=Green, Donald E.|editor2=Tonneson, Thomas V.|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED351157.pdf|title=American Indians: Social Justice and Public Policy|publisher=[[University of Wisconsin System]] Institute on Race and Ethnicity|year=1991|page=186 (PDF p. 198/282)}}</ref>

===Sports===
[[File:Jim Thorpe 1913b-cr.jpg|thumb|[[Jim Thorpe]], gold medalist at the 1912 Olympics, in the [[pentathlon]] and [[decathlon]] events]]

Native American leisure time led to competitive individual and team sports. [[Jim Thorpe]], [[Lewis Tewanima]], [[Joe Hipp]], [[Notah Begay III]], [[Chris Wondolowski]], [[Jacoby Ellsbury]], [[Joba Chamberlain]], [[Kyle Lohse]], [[Sam Bradford]], [[Jack Brisco]], [[Tommy Morrison]], [[Billy Mills]], [[Angel Goodrich]], [[Shoni Schimmel]], and [[Kyrie Irving]] are well known professional athletes.
[[File:Ball players.jpg|thumb|right|Ball players from the [[Choctaw]] and [[Lakota people|Lakota]] tribe in a 19th-century [[lithography|lithograph]] by [[George Catlin]]]]

====Team sports====
Native American ball sports, sometimes referred to as [[lacrosse]], stickball, or baggataway, were often used to settle disputes, rather than going to war, as a civil way to settle potential conflict. The [[Choctaw]] called it ''isitoboli'' ("Little Brother of War");<ref name="choctaw_stickball">{{cite web|url=http://www.indians.org/articles/choctaw-indians.html|title=Choctaw Indians|website=Indians.org|access-date=May 2, 2008|year=2006}}</ref> the [[Onondaga language|Onondaga]] name was ''dehuntshigwa'es'' ("men hit a rounded object"). There are three basic versions, classified as Great Lakes, Iroquoian, and Southern.<ref name="three_stickball">{{cite web|url=http://www.uslacrosse.org/museum/history.phtml|title=History of Native American Lacrosse|last=Vennum|first=Thomas Jr.|access-date=September 11, 2008|year=2002–2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411215231/http://www.uslacrosse.org/museum/history.phtml|archive-date=April 11, 2009}}</ref>

The game is played with one or two rackets or sticks and one ball. The object of the game is to land the ball in the opposing team's goal (either a single post or net) to score and to prevent the opposing team from scoring on your goal. The game involves as few as 20 or as many as 300 players with no height or weight restrictions and no protective gear. The goals could be from around {{convert|200|ft}} apart to about {{convert|2|mi}}; in lacrosse the field is {{convert|110|yd}}.

====Individual sports====
[[Chunkey]] was a game that consisted of a stone-shaped disk that was about 1–2&nbsp;inches in diameter. The disk was thrown down a {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} corridor so that it could roll past the players at great speed. The disk would roll down the corridor, and players would throw wooden shafts at the moving disk. The object of the game was to strike the disk or prevent your opponents from hitting it.
[[File:BillyMills Crossing Finish Line 1964Olympics.jpg|thumb|right|[[Billy Mills]] crosses the finish line at the end of the 10,000-meter race at the [[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo Olympics]].]]

====U.S. Olympics====
[[Jim Thorpe]], a [[Sauk and Fox]] Native American, was an all-around athlete playing football and baseball in the early 20th century. Future President [[Dwight Eisenhower]] injured his knee while trying to tackle the young Thorpe. In a 1961 speech, Eisenhower recalled Thorpe: "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."<ref name="CNN">Botelho, Greg. [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/jim.thorpe/ Roller-coaster life of Indian icon, sports' first star], CNN.com, July 14, 2004. Retrieved April 23, 2007.</ref>

In the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8 seconds, the 440 in 51.8 seconds, the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds.<ref name="NYTobit">[https://www.nytimes.com/1953/03/29/archives/jim-thorpe-is-dead-on-west-coast-at-64-jim-thorpe-dead-on-the-coast.html Jim Thorpe Is Dead on West Coast at 64], ''The New York Times'', March 29, 1953. Retrieved April 23, 2007.</ref> He could long jump 23&nbsp;ft 6&nbsp;in and high-jump 6&nbsp;ft 5&nbsp;in.<ref name="NYTobit"/> He could [[pole vault]] {{convert|11|ft|m}}, [[shot put|put the shot]] {{convert|47|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}, [[javelin throw|throw the javelin]] {{convert|163|ft|m}}, and throw the [[discus throw|discus]] {{convert|136|ft|m}}.<ref name="NYTobit"/> Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for the pentathlon and the decathlon.

[[Louis Tewanima]], [[Hopi people]], was an American two-time Olympic distance runner and silver medalist in the 10,000-meter run in 1912. He ran for the Carlisle Indian School where he was a teammate of Jim Thorpe. His silver medal in 1912 remained the best U.S. achievement in this event until another Indian, Billy Mills, won the gold medal in 1964. Tewanima also competed at the 1908 Olympics, where he finished in ninth place in the marathon.[1]

[[Ellison Brown]], of the [[Narragansett people]] from Rhode Island, better known as "Tarzan" Brown, won two Boston Marathons (1936, 1939) and competed on the United States Olympic team in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, but did not finish due to injury. He qualified for the 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, but the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.

[[Billy Mills]], a [[Lakota people|Lakota]] and [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]] officer, won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the [[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo Olympics]]. He was the only American ever to win the Olympic gold in this event. An unknown before the Olympics, Mills finished second in the U.S. Olympic trials.

[[Billy Kidd]], part [[Abenaki]] from [[Vermont]], became the first American male to medal in [[alpine skiing]] in the Olympics, taking silver at age 20 in the [[Slalom skiing|slalom]] in the [[Alpine skiing at the 1964 Winter Olympics|1964 Winter Olympics]] at [[Innsbruck, Austria|Innsbruck]], [[Austria]]. Six years later at the 1970 World Championships, Kidd won the gold medal in the [[Alpine skiing combined|combined]] event and took the bronze medal in the slalom.

[[Ashton Locklear]] ([[Lumbee people|Lumbee]]), an uneven bars specialist was an alternate for the [[2016 Summer Olympics]] U.S. gymnastics team, the [[Final Five (gymnastics)|Final Five]].<ref name="ashloc">{{cite web |last1=Penny |first1=Brandon |title=Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman Lead Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team |url=https://www.teamusa.org/News/2016/July/10/US-Olympic-Team-Trials-For-Womens-Gymnastics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160712204824/http://www.teamusa.org/News/2016/July/10/US-Olympic-Team-Trials-For-Womens-Gymnastics |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 12, 2016 |website=Team USA |publisher=United States Olympic Committee |access-date=January 28, 2019 |date=July 10, 2016}}</ref> In 2016, [[Kyrie Irving]] ([[Sioux]]) also helped Team USA win the gold medal at the [[Basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament|2016 Summer Olympics]]. With the win, he became just the fourth member of Team USA to capture the NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year, joining [[LeBron James]], [[Michael Jordan]], and [[Scottie Pippen]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2016/08/kyrie_irving_helps_team_usa_wi.html|title=Kyrie Irving helps Team USA win gold medal at 2016 Olympics, joins elite company|date=August 22, 2016}}</ref>

===Literature===
{{Main|Native American literature}}
{{See also|List of writers from peoples Indigenous to the Americas|Postcolonial literature}}

Native American literature, composed of both [[oral literature]] and written literature, has a long history. Relevantly, it is considered a series of literatures reflecting the varied traditions and histories of different tribes. Modern authors cover a wide range of genres and include [[Tommy Orange]], [[Joy Harjo]], [[Louise Erdrich]], [[Stephen Graham Jones]], [[Rebecca Roanhorse]], [[Tommy Pico]], and many more.

===Music===
{{Main|Native American music}}
{{See also| Native American hip hop | Indigenous metal music}}
[[File:UIATF Pow Wow 2009 - 023.jpg|thumb|[[Fancy Dance]]r at the Seafair Indian Days [[Pow-Wow]], [[Daybreak Star Cultural Center]], [[Seattle, Washington]]]]
[[File:Jake fragua jemez pueblo.jpg|thumb|upright|Jake Fragua, [[Jemez Pueblo]] from [[New Mexico]]]]

Traditional Native American music is almost entirely [[Texture (music)|monophonic]], but there are notable exceptions. Native American music often includes [[drum|drumming]] or the playing of rattles or other percussion instruments but little other instrumentation. [[Native American flute|Flutes]] and whistles made of wood, cane, or bone are also played, generally by individuals, but in former times also by large ensembles (as noted by Spanish [[conquistador]] [[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|de Soto]]). The tuning of modern flutes is typically [[pentatonic]].

Performers with Native American parentage have occasionally appeared in American popular music such as [[Rita Coolidge]], [[Wayne Newton]], [[Gene Clark]], [[Blackfoot (band)|Blackfoot]], and [[Redbone (band)|Redbone]] (members are also of Mexican descent). Some, such as [[John Trudell]], have used music to comment on life in Native America. Other musicians such as [[R. Carlos Nakai]], [[Joanne Shenandoah]] and [[Robert "Tree" Cody]] integrate traditional sounds with modern sounds in instrumental recordings, whereas the music by artist [[Charles Littleleaf]] is derived from ancestral heritage as well as nature. A variety of small and medium-sized recording companies offer an abundance of recent music by Native American performers young and old, ranging from pow-wow drum music to hard-driving rock-and-roll and rap. In the International world of ballet dancing [[Maria Tallchief]] was considered America's first major [[prima ballerina]],<ref name=SunTimes_obit>{{cite news|title=American prima ballerina Maria Tallchief dies at 88|first=Hedy|last=Weiss|date=April 12, 2013|work=Chicago Sun Times|url=http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/19439381-421/american-prima-ballerina-maria-tallchief-dies-at-88.html|access-date=April 15, 2013|archive-date=April 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416013816/http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/19439381-421/american-prima-ballerina-maria-tallchief-dies-at-88.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and was the first person of Native American descent to hold the rank.<ref name=Time_obit>{{cite news|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2013/04/12/the-silent-song-of-maria-tallchief-americas-prima-ballerina-1925-2013/|title=The Silent Song of Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina (1925–2013)|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=April 12, 2013|first=Howard|last=Chua-Eoan|access-date=April 16, 2013}}</ref> along with her sister [[Marjorie Tallchief]] both became star ballerinas.

The most widely practiced public musical form among Native Americans in the United States is that of the [[pow-wow]]. At pow-wows, such as the annual [[Gathering of Nations]] in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], members of drum groups sit in a circle around a large drum. Drum groups play in unison while they sing in a native language and dancers in colorful regalia dance clockwise around the drum groups in the center. Familiar pow-wow songs include honor songs, intertribal songs, crow-hops, sneak-up songs, grass-dances, two-steps, welcome songs, going-home songs, and war songs. Most Indigenous communities in the United States also maintain traditional songs and ceremonies, some of which are shared and practiced exclusively within the community.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Bierhosrt, John |title=A Cry from the Earth: Music of North American Indians |publisher=Ancient City Press |year=1992}}{{page needed|date=March 2021}}</ref>

===Art===
{{Further|petroglyph|pictogram|petroform|Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous ceramics of the Americas|Native American jewelry}}

The [[Iroquois]], living around the [[Great Lakes]] and extending east and north, used strings or belts called ''[[wampum]]'' that served a dual function: the knots and beaded designs mnemonically chronicled tribal stories and legends, and further served as a medium of exchange and a unit of measure. The keepers of the articles were seen as tribal dignitaries.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html |title = Iroquois History |access-date = February 23, 2006|last = Sultzmann|first = Leo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404181034/http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html |archive-date= Apr 4, 2006 }}</ref>

[[Pueblo peoples]] crafted impressive items associated with their religious ceremonies. ''[[Kachina]]'' dancers wore elaborately painted and decorated masks as they ritually impersonated various ancestral spirits.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/kachina|title=Kachina|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=September 3, 2018}}</ref> Pueblo people are particularly noted for their traditional high-quality pottery, often with geometric designs and floral, animal and bird motifs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pueblo-pottery|title=Pueblo Pottery|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=September 3, 2018}}</ref> Sculpture was not highly developed, but carved stone and wood fetishes were made for religious use. Superior weaving, embroidered decorations, and rich dyes characterized the textile arts. Both turquoise and shell jewelry were created, as were formalized pictorial arts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reference.com/history/arts-crafts-pueblo-indians-75b95e4adf7c95e7#|title=What Are the Arts and Crafts of the Pueblo Indians? |website=Reference.com|date=August 4, 2015|access-date=September 3, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215230/https://www.reference.com/history/arts-crafts-pueblo-indians-75b95e4adf7c95e7 |archive-date= September 3, 2018 }}</ref>

[[Navajo]] spirituality focused on the maintenance of a harmonious relationship with the spirit world, often achieved by ceremonial acts, usually incorporating [[sandpainting]]. For the Navajo, the sand painting is not merely a representational object, but a dynamic spiritual entity with a life of its own, which helped the patient at the center of the ceremony re-establish a connection with the life force. These vivid, intricate, and colorful sand creations were erased at the end of the healing ceremony.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://navajopeople.org/navajo-sand-painting.htm|title = Navajo Sandpaintings |website = Navajo People - The Diné |access-date = September 3, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110903010631/http://navajopeople.org/navajo-sand-painting.htm|archive-date = September 3, 2011|url-status = dead}}</ref>

It has been estimated that the Native American arts and crafts industry brings in more than a billion USD in gross sales annually, nationwide.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Cornell|first1=Maraya|title=Biggest Fake Native American Art Conspiracy Revealed|url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/native-american-indian-art-fake-forgery-hopi-zuni0/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315080714/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/native-american-indian-art-fake-forgery-hopi-zuni0/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 15, 2018|access-date=March 18, 2018|work=National Geographic News|publisher=[[National Geographic]]|date=March 15, 2018}}</ref>

Native American art comprises a major category in the world art collection. Native American contributions include [[Native American pottery|pottery]], [[painting]]s, [[jewellery]], [[weaving]]s, [[sculpture]], [[basketry]], and [[Wood carving|carvings]]. [[Franklin Gritts]] was a Cherokee artist who taught students from many tribes at Haskell Institute (now [[Haskell Indian Nations University]]) in the 1940s, the ''Golden Age'' of Native American painters. The integrity of certain Native American artworks is protected by the [[Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990]], which prohibits the representation of art as Native American when it is not the product of an enrolled Native American artist. Attorney Gail Sheffield and others claim that this law has had "the unintended consequence of sanctioning discrimination against Native Americans whose tribal affiliation was not officially recognized".<ref>Gail Sheffield, ''The Arbitrary Indian: The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990''. University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.</ref> Native artists such as [[Jeanne Rorex Bridges]] ([[Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama|Echota Cherokee]]) who was not enrolled ran the risk of fines or imprisonment if they continued to sell their art while affirming their Indian heritage.<ref>James J. Kilpatrick, "[http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-12-13/news/9203060467_1_indian-tribe-indian-arts-indian-blood A Cozy Little Restraint Of Trade Rules Indian Arts And Crafts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221418/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1992-12-13/news/9203060467_1_indian-tribe-indian-arts-indian-blood |date=March 3, 2016}}". Broward & Palm Beach ''Sun-Sentinel'', December 13, 1992.</ref><ref>Sam Blackwell, "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1893&dat=20001006&id=QMdKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-ccMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1871,5684721 Playing Politics with Native American Art]." ''The Southeast Missourian'', October 6, 2000.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Smoot |first1=D. E. |title=Judge rejects state's effort to restrict Native art |url=https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/tribal_news/judge-rejects-state-s-effort-to-restrict-native-art/article_251107b5-eb84-55de-852d-868a4992ad51.html |access-date=August 5, 2019 |work=[[Tahlequah Daily Press|The Tahlequah Daily Press]] |date=May 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805170311/https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/tribal_news/judge-rejects-state-s-effort-to-restrict-native-art/article_251107b5-eb84-55de-852d-868a4992ad51.html |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |location=Tahlequah, Oklahoma}}</ref>

==Interracial relations==
[[File:Portrait (Front) of Lillian Gross, Niece of Susan Sanders (Mixed Blood) 1906.jpg|upright|thumb|Lillian Gross, described as a "Mixed Blood" by the Smithsonian source, was of Cherokee and European American heritage. She identified with the Cherokee culture in which she was raised.]]

Interracial relations between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans is a complex issue that has been mostly neglected with "few in-depth studies on interracial relationships".<ref name="lin">{{Cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1546/is_n4_v11/ai_18953815|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050609074754/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1546/is_n4_v11/ai_18953815|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 9, 2005|title=The Indian connection|first=Mary A. |last=Dempsey |access-date=September 19, 2008 |year=1996 |publisher=American Visions}}</ref><ref name="takingAssToHeart">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/takingassimilati0000elli |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/takingassimilati0000elli/page/176 176] |title=Taking assimilation to heart |first=Katherine|last=Ellinghaus|isbn=978-0-8032-1829-1 |year=2006 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press}}</ref>

===Assimilation===
{{further|Cultural assimilation of Native Americans}}

European impact was immediate, widespread, and profound already during the early years of colonization and the creation of the countries which currently exist in the Americas. Europeans living among Native Americans were often called "white indians". They "lived in native communities for years, learned native languages fluently, attended native councils, and often fought alongside their native companions".<ref name="white_indians">{{cite web|url=http://www.galafilm.com/1812/e/background/nat_white_ind.html|title=Sharing Choctaw History|access-date=February 5, 2008|publisher=A First Nations Perspective, Galafilm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226024218/http://www.galafilm.com/1812/e/background/nat_white_ind.html|archive-date=December 26, 2007}}
</ref>

Early contact was often charged with tension and emotion, but also had moments of friendship, cooperation, and intimacy.<ref name="white_red_relations1">{{cite web|url=http://www.artsofcitizenship.umich.edu/sos/topics/native/early.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510222953/http://www.artsofcitizenship.umich.edu/sos/topics/native/early.html|archive-date=May 10, 2008|title=Native Americans: Early Contact|access-date=May 19, 2009|publisher=Students on Site}}</ref> Marriages took place in English, French, Russian and Spanish colonies between Native Americans and Europeans though Native American women were also the victims of rape.<ref name="udayu">{{cite web|url=http://academic.udayton.edu/Race/05intersection/Gender/rape.htm|title="The Realities of Enslaved Female Africans in America", excerpted from ''Failing Our Black Children: Statutory Rape Laws, Moral Reform and the Hypocrisy of Denial''|first=Gloria J.|last=Browne-Marshall|access-date=June 20, 2009|year=2009|publisher=University of Daytona|archive-date=November 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105133059/http://academic.udayton.edu/race/05intersection/gender/rape.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

There was fear on both sides, as the different peoples realized how different their societies were.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/> Many whites regarded Native people as "savages" because the Native people were not Protestant or Roman Catholic and therefore the Native people were not considered to be human beings.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/> The Native American author, Andrew J. Blackbird, wrote in his ''History of the [[Odawa|Ottawa]] and [[Chippewa]] Indians of Michigan'' (1897), that white settlers introduced some immoralities into Native American tribes. Many Native Americans suffered because the Europeans introduced alcohol. Many Native people do not break down alcohol in the same way as people of Eurasian background. Many Native people were learning what their body could [[Alcohol tolerance#Alcohol tolerance in different ethnic groups|tolerate]] of this new substance and died as a result of imbibing too much.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/>

Blackbird wrote:
{{blockquote|The Ottawas and Chippewas were quite virtuous in their primitive state, as there were no illegitimate children reported in our old traditions. But very lately this evil came to exist among the Ottawas-so lately that the second case among the Ottawas of 'Arbor Croche' is yet living in 1897. And from that time this evil came to be quite frequent, for immorality has been introduced among these people by evil white persons who bring their vices into the tribes.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/>}}

[[File:Fort-orleans-return.jpg|thumb|The 1725 return of an Osage bride from a trip to [[Paris]], [[France]]. The Osage woman was married to a French soldier.]]
[[File:Carl_Wimar_Abduction_of_Boones_Daughter_detail_Amon_Carter_Museum.jpg|thumb|''Five Indians and a Captive'', painted by [[Carl Wimar]], 1855]]
The U.S. government had two purposes when making land agreements with Native Americans: to open up more land for white settlement,<ref name="white_red_relations1"/> and to "ease tensions" (in other words assimilate Native people to Eurasian social ways) between whites and Native Americans by forcing the Native Americans to use the land in the same way as did the whites—for subsistence farms.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/> The government used a variety of strategies to achieve these goals; many treaties required Native Americans to become farmers in order to keep their land.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/> Government officials often did not translate the documents which Native Americans were forced to sign, and native chiefs often had little or no idea what they were signing.<ref name="white_red_relations1"/>

[[File:Charles eastman smithsonian gn 03462a.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Charles Eastman]] was one of the first Native Americans to become certified as a [[Medical Doctor|medical doctor]], after he graduated from Boston University.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A29 |title=Indian Achievement Award |publisher=Ipl.org |access-date=August 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703034312/http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A29 |archive-date=July 3, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/charles-eastman |title=Charles A. Eastman |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=August 22, 2010}}</ref>]]
For a Native American man to marry a white woman, he had to get consent of her parents, as long as "he can prove to support her as a white woman in a good home".<ref name="white_reds">
{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/takingassimilati0000elli |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/takingassimilati0000elli/page/176 176] |title=Taking assimilation to heart |first=Katherine|last=Ellinghaus |isbn=978-0-8032-1829-1 |year=2006 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press}}
</ref> In the early 19th century, the [[Shawnee]] Tecumseh and blonde hair, blue-eyed Rebecca Galloway had an interracial affair. In the late 19th century, three European American middle-class women teachers at [[Hampton Institute]] married Native American men whom they had met as students.<ref name="white_red_marriages">{{cite web|url=http://www.vahistorical.org/publications/Abstract_1083_ellinghaus.htm|title=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|access-date=May 19, 2009|publisher=Virginia Historical Society|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018202023/http://www.vahistorical.org/publications/Abstract_1083_ellinghaus.htm|archive-date=October 18, 2008}}</ref>

As European American women started working independently at missions and Indian schools in the western states, there were more opportunities for their meeting and developing relationships with Native American men. For instance, [[Charles Eastman]], a man of European and [[Lakota people|Lakota]] origin whose father sent both his sons to [[Dartmouth College]], got his medical degree at [[Boston University]] and returned to the West to practice. He married [[Elaine Goodale]], whom he met in South Dakota. He was the grandson of [[Seth Eastman]], a military officer from Maine, and a chief's daughter. Goodale was a young European American teacher from Massachusetts and a reformer, who was appointed as the U.S. superintendent of Native American education for the reservations in the Dakota Territory. They had six children together.

===European enslavement===
{{main|Slavery among Native Americans in the United States|Slavery among Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}

The majority of Native American tribes did practice some form of slavery before the European introduction of African slavery into North America, but none exploited slave labor on a large scale. Most Native American tribes did not barter captives in the pre-colonial era, although they sometimes exchanged enslaved individuals with other tribes in peace gestures or in exchange for their own members.<ref name="laubchap1">{{cite book|last1=Lauber |first1=Almon Wheeler |title=Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States Chapter 1: Enslavement by the Indians Themselves |date=1913 |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=25–48 |publisher=[[Columbia University]]}}</ref> When Europeans arrived as [[colonists]] in North America, Native Americans changed their practice of [[slavery]] dramatically. Native Americans began selling war captives to Europeans rather than integrating them into their own societies as they had done before. As the demand for labor in the [[West Indies]] grew with the cultivation of [[sugar cane]], Europeans enslaved Native Americans for the [[Thirteen Colonies]], and some were exported to the "sugar islands". The British settlers, especially those in the southern colonies, purchased or captured Native Americans to use as forced labor in cultivating tobacco, rice, and indigo. Accurate records of the numbers enslaved do not exist because vital statistics and census reports were at best infrequent.<ref name="laub">Lauber (1913), "The Number of Indian Slaves" [Ch. IV], in ''Indian Slavery'', pp. 105–117.</ref> Scholars estimate tens to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans may have been enslaved by the Europeans, being sold by Native Americans themselves or Europeans.<ref>Gallay, Alan. (2002) ''The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670–171''. New York: Yale University Press. {{ISBN|0-300-10193-7}}.</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=The other slavery: The uncovered story of Indian enslavement in America|last=Reséndez|first=Andrés|date=2016|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-544-94710-8|location=Boston|page=324}}</ref>

In Colonial America, slavery soon became [[Racialization|racialized]], with those enslaved by the institution consisting of ethnic groups (non-Christian Native Americans and Africans) who were foreign to the Christian, European colonists. The [[House of Burgesses]] define the terms of [[History of slavery in Virginia|slavery in Virginia]] in 1705:

{{blockquote|All servants imported and brought into the Country&nbsp;... who were not Christians in their native Country&nbsp;... shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion&nbsp;... shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master&nbsp;... correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction&nbsp;... the master shall be free of all punishment&nbsp;... as if such accident never happened.|Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705<ref name="pbsafna">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr3.html |title=The Terrible Transformation:From Indentured Servitude to Racial Slavery |access-date=2010-01-07 |year=2009 |publisher=PBS}}</ref>}}

The slave trade of Native Americans lasted only until around 1750. It gave rise to a series of devastating wars among the tribes, including the [[Yamasee War]]. The [[Indian Wars]] of the early 18th century, combined with the increasing importation of African slaves, effectively ended the Native American slave trade by 1750. Colonists found that Native American slaves could easily escape, as they knew the country. The wars cost the lives of numerous colonial slave traders and disrupted their early societies. The remaining Native American groups banded together to face the Europeans from a position of strength. Many surviving Native American peoples of the southeast strengthened their loose coalitions of language groups and joined confederacies such as the [[Choctaw]], the [[Muscogee (Creek)|Creek]], and the [[Catawba (tribe)|Catawba]] for protection. Even after the Indian Slave Trade ended in 1750, the enslavement of Native Americans continued (mostly through kidnappings) in the west and in the [[Southern United States|Southern states]].<ref name="ism">{{cite book |title=Race and the Cherokee Nation |chapter=Indian Slavery and Memory: Interracial sex from the slaves' perspective |first=Fay A. |last=Yarbrough |year=2008 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |pages=112–123}}</ref><ref>Castillo, E.D. 1998. [http://www.ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html "Short Overview of California Indian History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214031402/http://www.ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html |date=December 14, 2006}}, California Native American Heritage Commission, 1998. Retrieved October 24, 2007.</ref> Both Native American and African enslaved women suffered rape and sexual harassment by male slaveholders and other white men.<ref name="udayu"/>

===Native American and African relations===
{{Further|Black Indians|Native American slave ownership}}

African- and Native- Americans have interacted for centuries. The earliest record of Native American and African contact occurred in April 1502, when Spanish colonists transported the first Africans to [[Hispaniola]] to serve as slaves.<ref>''Muslims in American History : A Forgotten Legacy'' by Jerald F. Dirks. {{ISBN|1-59008-044-0}} p. 204.</ref>

[[File:Buffalo soldiers1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Buffalo Soldier]]s, 1890. The nickname was given to the "Black Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought.]]
Sometimes Native Americans resented the presence of African Americans.<ref name="Red, White pg. 99">{{cite book |title =Red, White, and Black: Symposium on Indians in the Old South|date= April 26, 1971|page= 99|publisher= Southern Anthropological Society|isbn=978-0-8203-0308-6|editor-last = Hudson|editor-first = Charles M.}}</ref> The "Catawaba tribe in 1752 showed great anger and bitter resentment when an African American came among them as a trader".<ref name="Red, White pg. 99"/> To gain favor with Europeans, the Cherokee exhibited the strongest color prejudice of all Native Americans.<ref name="Red, White pg. 99"/> Because of European fears of a unified revolt of Native Americans and African Americans, the colonists tried to encourage hostility between the ethnic groups: "Whites sought to convince Native Americans that African Americans worked against their best interests."<ref>Red, White, and Black, p. 105, {{ISBN|0-8203-0308-9}}.</ref> In 1751, South Carolina law stated:

{{blockquote|The carrying of Negroes among the Indians has all along been thought detrimental, as an intimacy ought to be avoided.<ref name="hid">{{cite web |url=http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/article.aspx?d=America&x=blackIndians |title=Black Indians (Afro-Native Americans) |author=ColorQ |access-date=2009-05-29 |year=2009 |publisher=ColorQ}}</ref>}}

In addition, in 1758 the governor of South Carolina James Glen wrote:

{{blockquote|it has always been the policy of this government to create an aversion in them [Indians] to Negroes.<ref name="afch">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpusu6xQq6QC&q=afro+cherokee+smallpox&pg=PA33 |title=Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom |first=Tiya |last=Miles |year=2008 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520250024}}</ref>}}

Europeans considered both races inferior and made efforts to make both Native Americans and Africans enemies. Native Americans were rewarded if they returned escaped slaves, and African Americans were rewarded for fighting in the late 19th-century [[Indian Wars]].<ref name="nawomen">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYWs-GQDiOkC&pg=PA214|title=Women in early America|first=Dorothy A.|last=Mays|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-429-5}}</ref><ref name="cherslav"/><ref name="infr">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHJMNVV31T0C&pg=PA3|title=Race and the Cherokee Nation|first=Fay A.|last=Yarbrough|year=2007|publisher=Univ of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-4056-6}}</ref>

According to the [[National Park Service]], "Native Americans, during the transitional period of Africans becoming the primary race enslaved, were enslaved at the same time and shared a common experience of enslavement. They worked together, lived together in communal quarters, produced collective recipes for food, shared herbal remedies, myths and legends, and in the end they intermarried."<ref name="afrna">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/lowCountry_furthRdg1.htm |title=African American Heritage and Ethnography: Work, Marriage, Christianity |author=National Park Service |date=May 30, 2009 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref><ref name="slavbeg">{{cite book |title=Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage |chapter=Their Mixing is to be Prevented |first=William Loren |last=Katz |year=1996 |publisher=Atheneum Books For Young Readers |pages=109–125}}</ref> Because of a shortage of men due to warfare, many tribes encouraged marriage between the two groups, to create stronger, healthier children from the unions.<ref name="nadis">{{cite web|url=http://www.djembe.dk/no/19/08biwapi.html |title=Black Indians want a place in history |first=Nomad |last=Winterhawk |access-date=May 29, 2009 |year=1997 |work=Djembe Magazine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714113317/http://www.djembe.dk/no/19/08biwapi.html |archive-date=July 14, 2009}}</ref>

In the 18th century, many Native American women married freed or [[runaway slave|runaway]] African men due to a decrease in the population of men in Native American villages.<ref name="nawomen"/> Records show that many Native American women bought African men but, unknown to the European sellers, the women freed and married the men into their tribe.<ref name="nawomen"/> When African men married or had children by a Native American woman, their children were born free, because the mother was free (according to the principle of ''[[partus sequitur ventrem]]'', which the colonists incorporated into law).<ref name="nawomen"/>

While numerous tribes used captive enemies as servants and slaves, they also often adopted younger captives into their tribes to replace members who had died. In the Southeast, a few Native American tribes began to adopt a slavery system similar to that of the American colonists, buying African American slaves, especially the [[Cherokee]], [[Choctaw]], and [[Muscogee (Creek)|Creek]]. Though less than 3% of Native Americans owned slaves, divisions grew among the Native Americans over slavery.<ref name="wil">{{cite web|url=http://www.williamlkatz.com/Essays/History/AfricansIndians.php |title=Africans and Indians: Only in America |author=William Loren Katz |access-date=May 6, 2009 |year=2008 |publisher=William Loren Katz |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513235755/http://www.williamlkatz.com/Essays/History/AfricansIndians.php |archive-date=May 13, 2008}}</ref> Among the Cherokee, records show that slaveholders in the tribe were largely the children of European men who had shown their children the economics of slavery.<ref name="cherslav">{{cite web|url=http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/SLAVE_RV.HTM |title=CHEROKEE SLAVE REVOLT OF 1842 |first=Art T. |last=Burton |access-date=May 29, 2009 |year=1996 |publisher=LWF COMMUNICATIONS |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090929002527/http://coax.net/people/lwf/SLAVE_RV.HTM |archive-date=September 29, 2009}}</ref> As European colonists took slaves into frontier areas, there were more opportunities for relationships between African and Native American peoples.<ref name="nawomen"/>

==Race, ethnicity, and citizenship==
{{Main|Native American identity|Native Americans in United States elections}}
[[File:Sharice_Davids.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sharice Davids]] became one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.]]
[[File:Portrait of Ben Reifel.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Ben Reifel]] of South Dakota, the only [[Lakota people|Lakota]] elected to the U.S. House of Representatives]]
[[File:Deb Haaland official portrait, 116th congress 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Deb Haaland]] became one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.]]
[[File:Judge Ada Brown.png|thumb|left|upright|[[Ada Brown (judge)|Ada Brown]], a citizen of the Choctaw Nation with mixed-African American heritage, nominated by President [[Donald Trump]] in 2019 to be a federal judge in Texas]]
[[File:Rep. Mary Peltola headshot (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mary Peltola]] became the first Alaska Native elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.]]

Native American identity is determined by the tribal community that the individual or group is seeking to identify with.<ref name=TallBear1>{{cite journal|author=Kimberly TallBear |authorlink=Kim TallBear|title=DNA, Blood, and Racializing the Tribe|journal=Wíčazo Ša Review|date= 2003 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=81–107 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |jstor=140943|doi=10.1353/wic.2003.0008|s2cid=201778441 }}</ref><ref name="nhpr">{{cite news |last1=Furukawa |first1=Julia |title=Review of genealogies, other records fails to support local leaders' claims of Abenaki ancestry |url=https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2023-05-22/review-of-genealogies-other-records-fails-to-support-local-leaders-claims-of-abenaki-ancestry |access-date=7 July 2023 |work=New Hampshire Public Radio |date=May 22, 2023}}</ref> While it is common for non-Natives to consider it a racial or ethnic identity, it is considered by Native Americans in the United States to be a political identity, based on citizenship and immediate family relationships.<ref name=TallBear1/><ref name="nhpr"/> As culture can vary widely between the 574 extant [[federally recognized tribes in the United States]], the idea of a single unified "Native American" racial identity is a European construct that does not have an equivalent in tribal thought.<ref name=TallBear1/>

In the 2010 Census, nearly 3 million people indicated that their "race" was Native American (including Alaska Native).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|title=U.S. Census website|author=United States Census Bureau|website=Census.gov|access-date=August 30, 2017}}</ref> Of these, more than 27% specifically indicated "Cherokee" as their [[ethnic origin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nerve.com/life/why-do-so-many-people-claim-they-have-cherokee-in-their-blood|title=Why Do So Many People Claim They Have Cherokee In Their Blood? – Nerve|website=nerve.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2015/10/cherokee_blood_why_do_so_many_americans_believe_they_have_cherokee_ancestry.html|title=Why Do So Many Americans Think They Have Cherokee Blood?|author1-link=Gregory D. Smithers|first=Gregory D.|last=Smithers|date=October 1, 2015|journal=Slate}}</ref> Many of the [[First Families of Virginia#Pocahontas|First Families of Virginia claim descent from Pocahontas]] or some other "[[Indian princess]]". This phenomenon has been dubbed the "[[Cherokee Syndrome]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailyyonder.com/cherokee-syndrome/2011/02/10/3170/|title=The Cherokee Syndrome – Daily Yonder|website=dailyyonder.com|date=February 10, 2011}}</ref> Across the US, numerous individuals cultivate an [[Ethnic option|opportunistic ethnic identity]] as Native American, sometimes through [[Cherokee heritage groups]] or [[Indian Wedding Blessing]]s.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/magazine/the-newest-indians.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529190012/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/magazine/the-newest-indians.html |archive-date=2015-05-29 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Newest Indians|first=Jack|last=Hitt|date=August 21, 2005|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

Some tribes (particularly some in the [[Eastern United States]]) are primarily made up of individuals with an unambiguous [[Native American identity]], despite having a large number of mixed-race citizens with prominent non-Native ancestry. More than 75% of those enrolled in the [[Cherokee Nation]] have less than one-quarter Cherokee blood,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/us/03cherokee.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305161740/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/us/03cherokee.html |archive-date=2007-03-05 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Putting to a Vote the Question 'Who Is Cherokee?'|first=Evelyn|last=Nieves|date=March 3, 2007|work=The New York Times}}</ref> and the former [[Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation]], [[Bill John Baker]], is 1/32 Cherokee, amounting to about 3%.

Historically, numerous Native Americans [[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans|assimilated into colonial and later American society]], e.g. through [[language shift|adopting English]] and [[Praying Indians|converting to Christianity]]. In many cases, this process occurred through [[forced assimilation]] of children sent off to [[American Indian boarding schools]] far from their families. Those who could eventually [[Racial passing|pass for white]] gained the advantage of [[white privilege]], yet often paid for it with the loss of community connections.<ref name="auto"/> With the enforcement of [[blood quantum laws]], Indian blood could be diluted over generations through intermarrying with non-Native populations, as well as intermarrying with members of tribes that also required high blood-quantum, solely from one tribe.<ref>{{cite web|date=June 10, 2010|title=Blood_Quantum_II|url=http://nas.ucdavis.edu/Forbes/Blood_Quantum_II.html|access-date=February 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610050121/http://nas.ucdavis.edu/Forbes/Blood_Quantum_II.html|archive-date=June 10, 2010}}</ref> "Kill the Indian, save the man" was a mantra of nineteenth-century U.S. assimilation policies.<ref name="TallBear 31–66">{{Cite book|last=TallBear |first=Kim |title=Native American DNA |date=September 1, 2013|publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-6585-3|pages=31–66|doi=10.5749/minnesota/9780816665853.001.0001}}</ref>

Native Americans are more likely than any other racial group to practice [[Interracial marriage in the United States|interracial or intertribal marriage]] among the different tribes and non-Natives, resulting in an ever-declining proportion of Indigenous blood among those who claim a Native American identity (tribes often count only the Indian blood from their own tribal background in the enrollment process, disregarding intertribal heritages).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-14089253|title=Blood affects US Indian identity|first=Paul|last=Adams|date=July 10, 2011|via=bbc.com|work=BBC News}}</ref> Some tribes [[Tribal disenrollment|disenroll]] those with low blood quantum. Disenrollment has become a contentious issue in [[Native American reservation politics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/native-news/what-percentage-indian-do-you-have-to-be-in-order-to-be-a-member-of-a-tribe-or-nation/|title=What Percentage Indian Do You Have to Be in Order to Be a Member of a Tribe or Nation? – Indian Country Media Network|website=indiancountrymedianetwork.com|access-date=August 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021152949/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/native-news/what-percentage-indian-do-you-have-to-be-in-order-to-be-a-member-of-a-tribe-or-nation/|archive-date=October 21, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/politics/disappearing-indians-part-ii-the-hypocrisy-of-race-in-deciding-whos-enrolled/|title=Disappearing Indians, Part II: The Hypocrisy of Race In Deciding Who's Enrolled – Indian Country Media Network|website=indiancountrymedianetwork.com|access-date=August 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922094009/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/politics/disappearing-indians-part-ii-the-hypocrisy-of-race-in-deciding-whos-enrolled/|archive-date=September 22, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Tribal enrollment===
{{Further|List of federally recognized tribes in the United States|State-recognized tribes|Cherokee freedmen controversy|Cherokee descent|Tribal disenrollment}}

Requirements for tribal citizenship vary by tribe, but are generally based on who one's parents and grandparents are, as known and documented by community members and tribal records. Among the tribal nations, qualification for enrolling those who were not logged at birth by their parents may be based upon a required percentage of Native American "blood" (or the "[[Blood quantum laws|blood quantum]]") of an individual, or upon documented [[lineal descent]] from an ancestor on a specific census or register.

Tribal rules regarding the recognition of members who have heritage from multiple tribes also vary, but most do not allow citizenship in multiple tribes at once. For those that do, usually citizens consider one of their citizenships primary, and their other heritage to be "descent". Federally recognized tribes do not accept genetic ethnicity percentages results as appropriate evidence of Native American identity, as they cannot indicate specific tribe, or even whether or not someone is Native American. Unless requested for a paternity test, they do not advise applicants to submit such things.<ref name="TallBear 31–66"/>

To receive tribal services, a Native American must be a citizen of (or enrolled in) a [[federally recognized tribe]]. While each tribal government makes its own rules for the eligibility of citizens, the federal government has its own qualifications for federally-funded services. Federal scholarships for Native Americans require the student to be enrolled in a federally recognized tribe ''and'' to be of at least one-quarter Native American [[CDIB|blood quantum]], as attested to by a [[Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood]] (CDIB) card issued by the federal government.

Tribal membership conflicts have led to a number of legal disputes, court cases, and the formation of activist groups. One example of this is the [[Cherokee Freedmen]]. The [[Cherokee Nation]] requires documented direct genealogical descent from a Cherokee person listed in the early 1906 [[Dawes Rolls]]. The Freedmen are descendants of African Americans once enslaved by the Cherokees, who were granted, by federal treaty, citizenship in the [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|historic Cherokee Nation]] as freedmen after the Civil War. The [[Cherokee Nation|modern Cherokee Nation]], in the early 1980s, passed a law to require that all members must prove descent from a Cherokee Native American (not Cherokee Freedmen) listed on the Dawes Rolls, resulting in the exclusion of some individuals and families who had been active in Cherokee culture for years.

===Increased self-identification===
Since the 2000 census, people may identify as being of more than one race.<ref name="2010 Census AMAN" /> Since the 1960s, the number of people claiming Native American ancestry has grown significantly and, by the 2000 census, the number had more than doubled. Sociologists attribute this dramatic change to "ethnic shifting" or "ethnic shopping"; they believe that it reflects a willingness of people to question their birth identities and adopt new ethnicities which they find more compatible.

The author [[Jack Hitt]] writes:

{{blockquote|The reaction from lifelong Indians runs the gamut. It is easy to find Native Americans who denounce many of these new Indians as members of the [[Pretendian|wannabe tribe]]. But it is also easy to find Indians like Clem Iron Wing, an elder among the [[Lakota people|Lakota]], who sees this flood of new ethnic claims as magnificent, a surge of Indians 'trying to come home.' Those Indians who ridicule Iron Wing's lax sense of tribal membership have retrofitted the old genocidal system of blood quantum—measuring racial purity by blood—into the new standard for real Indianness, a choice rich with paradox.<ref name="Newest Indians"/>}}

Journalist Mary Annette Pember ([[Ojibwe]]) writes that non-Natives identifying with Native American identity may be a result of a person's increased interest in [[genealogy]], the romanticization of what they believe the cultures to be, and family lore of Native American ancestors in the distant past. However, there are different issues if a person wants to pursue enrollment as a citizen of a tribal nation. Different tribes have different requirements for citizenship. Often those who live as non-Natives, yet claim distant heritage, say they are simply reluctant to enroll, arguing that it is a method of control initiated by the federal government. However, it is the tribes that set their own enrollment criteria, and "the various enrollment requirements are often a hurdle that ethnic shoppers are unable to clear." Says Grayson Noley, (Choctaw), of the [[University of Oklahoma]], "If you have to search for proof of your heritage, it probably isn't there."<ref name=EthnicFraud/> In other cases, there are some individuals who are 100% Native American but, if all of their recent ancestors are from different tribes, [[blood quantum laws]] could result in them not meeting the citizenship criteria for any one of those individual tribes. Pember concludes:

{{blockquote|The subjects of genuine American Indian blood, cultural connection and recognition by the community are extremely contentious issues, hotly debated throughout Indian country and beyond. The whole situation, some say, is ripe for misinterpretation, confusion and, ultimately, exploitation.<ref name=EthnicFraud>{{cite web|url=https://diverseeducation.com/article/6918/|title=Ethnic Fraud|date=January 25, 2007|website=diverseeducation}}</ref>|title=|source=}}

===Admixture and genetics===
[[File:Creeks in Oklahoma.png|thumb|Members of the Creek (Muscogee) Nation in [[Oklahoma]] around 1877; they include men with some European and African ancestry.<ref>Charles Hudson, ''The Southeastern Indians'', 1976, p. 479.</ref>]]

Intertribal marriage is historically common among many Native American tribes, both prior to European contact and in the present. Historically, tribal conflicts might result in the eventual adoption of, or marriages with, captives taken in warfare, with former foes becoming full members of the community. Individuals often have ancestry from more than one tribe, and this became increasingly common after so many tribes lost family members to [[European colonization of the Americas|colonial invasions]] bringing disease, war and massacres. Bands or entire tribes were often reduced to very small numbers, and at times split or merged to form stronger communities in reaction to these pressures.<ref name="eurekalert.org">[http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/uoia-ycs071508.php "Y chromosome study sheds light on Athapaskan migration to southwest US"], ''Eureka Alert'', Department of Energy Public Newslist</ref>

Tribes with long trading histories with Europeans show a higher rate of European admixture, reflecting admixture events between Native American women and European men.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Singh Malhi | first=Ripan | title=Distribution of Y chromosomes among native North Americans: A study of Athapaskan population history | journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology | publisher=Wiley | volume=137 | issue=4 | year=2008 | issn=0002-9483 | doi=10.1002/ajpa.20883 | pages=412–424| pmid=18618732 | pmc=2584155 }}</ref><ref name="eurekalert.org"/>

The [[Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism]] has also said that [[haplogroup]] testing is not a valid means of determining Native American ancestry, and that the concept of using genetic testing to determine who is or is not Native American threatens [[tribal sovereignty]].<ref name="genej">{{cite web | last=Marks | first=Jonathan | title=Genetic "Markers"- Not a Valid Test of Native Identity | website=Indigenous People's Council on Biocolonialism | url=http://www.ipcb.org/publications/briefing_papers/files/identity.html | access-date=2023-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725075627/http://www.ipcb.org/publications/briefing_papers/files/identity.html|archive-date= 25 July 2008|url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Fitzgerald">{{cite book |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Kathleen J. |title=Recognizing Race and Ethnicity: Power, Privilege, and Inequality |date=3 June 2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-51440-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4T_pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT102 |language=en}}</ref> Author of ''Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science'', [[Kim TallBear]] ([[Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate]]), agrees, stating that not only is there no DNA test that can indicate a tribe, but "there is no DNA-test to prove you're Native American."<ref name=CBCTallBear>{{cite news|last1=Geddes|first1=Linda|title='There is no DNA test to prove you're Native American' |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129554-400-there-is-no-dna-test-to-prove-youre-native-american/ |accessdate=31 May 2019 |work=[[New Scientist]]|date=5 February 2014|archive-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315112433/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129554-400-there-is-no-dna-test-to-prove-youre-native-american/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NativeDNA>{{Cite book| title=Native American DNA: Tribal-belonging and the false Promise of Genetic Science| isbn=| last1=TallBear| first1=Kim| author-link= Kim TallBear|year=2013|pages= 132–136}}</ref> Tallbear writes in ''Native American DNA'' that while a DNA test may bring up some markers associated with some Indigenous or Asian populations, the science in these cases is problematic,<ref name=CBCTallBear/> as Indigenous identity is not about one distant (and possibly nonexistent) ancestor, but rather political citizenship, culture, kinship, and daily, lived experience as part of an Indigenous community.<ref name=NativeDNA/> She adds that a person, "… could have up to two Native American grandparents and show no sign of Native American ancestry. For example, a genetic male could have a maternal grandfather (from whom he did not inherit his Y chromosome) and a paternal grandmother (from whom he did not inherit his mtDNA) who were descended from Native American founders, but mtDNA and Y-chromosome analyses would not detect them."<ref name="TallBear 31–66"/>

Given all these factors, DNA testing is not sufficient to qualify a person for specific tribal membership, as the ethnicity admixture tests cannot distinguish among Native American tribes. They cannot even reliably indicate Native American ancestry:<ref name="bldl2"/>

<blockquote>"Native American markers" are not found solely among Native Americans. While they occur more frequently among Native Americans, they are also found in people in other parts of the world.<ref name="bldl2">{{cite web |url=http://www.weyanoke.org/historyculture/hc-DNAandIndianAncestry.html |title=Can DNA Determine Who is American Indian? |last=TallBear |first=Kim |access-date=2009-10-27 |year=2008 |publisher=The WEYANOKE Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724191733/http://www.weyanoke.org/historyculture/hc-DNAandIndianAncestry.html |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

The only use of DNA testing by legitimate tribes is that some, such as the [[Meskwaki]], may use DNA for paternity tests, or similar confirmation that an applicant who was not enrolled at birth is the biological child of an enrolled tribal member. It is solely about confirming or ruling out biological paternity, and has no relationship to race or ethnicity.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |title=Meshkawi Tribe Enrollment |url=https://www.meskwaki.org/about-us/enrollment/ |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Meshkawi Tribal Constitution - Sec. 10-4106| newspaper=Google Docs |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qHYvNQxCV_1YMSoFIrmsyQeqGZBhOSJe/view?pli=1|access-date=August 11, 2023|quote=. Burden of Proof. (b) To meet its burden to establish paternity, an applicant must submit a DNA test which uses a twelve- (12) marker protocol, or certified test results from another DNA company which has a degree of accuracy which is as great as or greater than that provided by a DNA test which uses a 12-marker protocol, certified by a competent court, and which establishes paternity necessary for membership. The cost of the paternity test shall be borne by the Tribe.}}</ref>

====African American admixtures====
{{Main|Black Indians in the United States#Genealogy and genetics}}

[[DNA]] testing and research has provided some data about the extent of Native American ancestry among African Americans, which varies in the general population. Based on the work of [[geneticists]], [[Harvard University]] historian [[Henry Louis Gates, Jr.]] hosted a popular, and at times controversial, [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] series, ''[[African American Lives]]'', in which geneticists said DNA evidence shows that Native American ancestry is far less common among African Americans than previously believed.<ref name="Root2">{{cite web|last=Gates|first=Henry Louis Jr.|url= https://www.theroot.com/high-cheekbones-and-straight-black-hair-1790878167 |title=High Cheekbones and Straight Black Hair?| work=[[The Root (magazine)|The Root]]|date=29 Dec 2014|access-date=19 July 2019}}</ref><ref name=GatesNPR>{{cite web|url= https://www.npr.org/2019/01/21/686531998/historian-henry-louis-gates-jr-on-dna-testing-and-finding-his-own-roots |title=Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. On DNA Testing And Finding His Own Roots - Transcript| work=[[Fresh Air ]]|date=21 Jan 2017|access-date=19 July 2019}}</ref> Their conclusions were that while almost all African Americans are racially mixed, and many have family stories of Native heritage, usually these stories turn out to be inaccurate,<ref name="Root2"/><ref name=GatesNPR/> with only 5 percent of African American people showing more than 2 percent Native American ancestry.<ref name=Root2/>

Gates summarized these statistics to mean that, "If you have 2 percent Native American ancestry, you had one such ancestor on your family tree five to nine generations back (150 to 270 years ago)."<ref name="Root2" /> Their findings also concluded that the most common "non-Black" mix among African Americans is English and [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]]. Some critics thought the PBS series did not sufficiently explain the limitations of DNA testing for assessment of heritage.<ref name="hur">{{cite news |author=Troy Duster |year=2008 |title=Deep Roots and Tangled Branches |url=http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726082531/http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908 |archive-date=2011-07-26 |access-date=2008-10-02 |newspaper=Chronicle of Higher Education}}</ref> Another study, published in the ''[[American Journal of Human Genetics]]'', also indicated that, despite how common these family stories are, relatively few African Americans who have these stories actually turned out to have detectable Native American ancestry.<ref name="AJHG1">{{cite journal |author=Esteban Parra |display-authors=etal |year=1998 |title=Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population-Specific Alleles |url= |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=63 |issue=6 |pages=1839–1851 |doi=10.1086/302148 |pmc=1377655 |pmid=9837836}}</ref> A study reported in the ''American Journal of Human Genetics'' stated, "We analyzed the European genetic contribution to 10 populations of African descent in the United States (Maywood, Illinois; Detroit; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Baltimore; Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans; and Houston)&nbsp;... mtDNA haplogroups analysis shows no evidence of a significant maternal Amerindian contribution to any of the 10 populations."<ref name="AJHG">{{cite journal |last1=Parra |first1=Esteban J. |year=1998 |title=Estimating African American Admixture Proportions by Use of Population |url= |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=63 |issue=6 |pages=1839–1851 |doi=10.1086/302148 |pmc=1377655 |pmid=9837836}}</ref> Despite this, some still insist that most African Americans have at least some Native American heritage.<ref name="dstu">{{cite web |author=Sherrel Wheeler Stewart |year=2008 |title=More Blacks are Exploring the African-American/Native American Connection |url=http://www.rlnn.com/ArtOct06/MoreBlacksAfricanAmerNativeAmerConnection.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031200938/http://www.rlnn.com/ArtOct06/MoreBlacksAfricanAmerNativeAmerConnection.html |archive-date=October 31, 2006 |access-date=2008-08-06 |publisher=BlackAmericaWeb.com}}</ref>

An autosomal study from 2019 found small but detectable amounts of Native American ancestry among African-Americans, ranging from an average of 1.2% in the [[West South Central states|West South Central]] region, to 1.9% on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]. The median amount of Native ancestry in African-Americans was found to be 1% nationwide.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jordan |first1=I. King |last2=Rishishwar |first2=Lavanya |last3=Conley |first3=Andrew B. |date=2019-09-23 |title=Native American admixture recapitulates population-specific migration and settlement of the continental United States |journal=PLOS Genetics |language=en |volume=15 |issue=9 |pages=e1008225 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008225 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=6756731 |pmid=31545791}}</ref>

==== White and Hispanic admixtures ====
An [[Autosome|autosomal]] DNA study published in 2019 found evidence of minimal Native American ancestry among non-Hispanic White Americans, ranging from an average of 0.18% in the [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Mid-Atlantic]] region to 0.93% in the [[Pacific region USA|Pacific]] region. However, the majority of White Americans were found to have no detectable Native American ancestry, with the median amount of European ancestry being 99.8% in White participants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jordan |first1=I. King |last2=Rishishwar |first2=Lavanya |last3=Conley |first3=Andrew B. |date=2019-09-23 |title=Native American admixture recapitulates population-specific migration and settlement of the continental United States |journal=PLOS Genetics |language=en |volume=15 |issue=9 |pages=e1008225 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008225 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=6756731 |pmid=31545791}}</ref>

[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]] Americans, on the other hand, were found to have a large and varying amount of Native American ancestry, with a median of 38% nationwide. This ancestry was the highest among Hispanics from the [[West South Central states|West South Central Region]] (Texas and Oklahoma) at 43.2%, and the West Coast, at 42.6%, reflecting the predominant [[Mexican Americans|Mexican-American]] population in these regions. Hispanics from the Mid-Atlantic, on the other hand, averaged only 11.1% Native American ancestry, reflecting the predominant [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] and [[Dominican Americans|Dominican-American]] populations among Hispanics from that region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jordan |first1=I. King |last2=Rishishwar |first2=Lavanya |last3=Conley |first3=Andrew B. |date=2019-09-23 |title=Native American admixture recapitulates population-specific migration and settlement of the continental United States |journal=PLOS Genetics |language=en |volume=15 |issue=9 |pages=e1008225 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008225 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-7404 |pmc=6756731 |pmid=31545791}}</ref> 

====DNA====
{{Main|Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas}}
{{See also|Y-DNA haplogroups in Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}

The [[genetic history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] primarily focuses on [[human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups]] and [[human mitochondrial DNA haplogroups]]. "Y-DNA" is passed solely along the [[patrilineal]] line, from father to son, while "mtDNA" is passed down the [[matrilineal]] line, from mother to offspring of both sexes. Neither [[Genetic recombination|recombines]], and thus Y-DNA and mtDNA change only by chance mutation at each generation with no intermixture between parents' genetic material.<ref name="nomenclature">{{cite journal |year=2002 |title=A Nomenclature System for the Tree of Human Y-Chromosomal Binary Haplogroups |pages=339–348 |volume=12|issue=2|doi=10.1101/gr.217602 |last1=Consortium |first1=T. Y C. |journal=Genome Research |pmid=11827954 |pmc=155271}} [http://genome.cshlp.org/content/12/2/339/F1.large.jpg (Detailed hierarchical chart)]</ref> [[Autosome|Autosomal]] "atDNA" markers are also used, but differ from mtDNA or Y-DNA in that they overlap significantly.<ref name="Griffiths"/> Autosomal DNA is generally used to measure the average continent-of-ancestry [[genetic admixture]] in the entire [[human genome]] and related [[Population bottleneck|isolated populations]].<ref name="Griffiths">{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Anthony J. F. |title=An Introduction to genetic analysis |year=1999|publisher=W.H. Freeman |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7167-3771-1|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?highlight=autosome&rid=iga.section.222|access-date=February 3, 2010}}</ref> Within mtDNA, genetic scientists have found specific nucleotide sequences that they have classified as "Native American markers" because the sequences are understood to have been inherited through the generations of genetic females within populations first found in the "New World". There are five primary Native American mtDNA haplogroups in which there are clusters of closely linked markers inherited together. All five haplogroups have been identified by researchers as "prehistoric Native North American samples", and it is commonly asserted that the majority of living Native Americans possess one of the common five mtDNA haplogroup markers.<ref name="TallBear 31–66"/>

The genetic pattern indicates Indigenous Americans experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial-peopling of the Americas, and secondly with [[European colonization of the Americas]].<ref name="SpencerWells3">{{Cite book |first1=Spencer |last1=Wells |first2=Mark |last2=Read |title=The Journey of Man&nbsp;— A Genetic Odyssey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAsKm-_zu5sC&pg=PP1|format=Digitised online by Google books |publisher=Random House |isbn= 978-0-8129-7146-0 |year=2002}}</ref><ref name="Genebase">{{cite web|title=Learn about Y-DNA Haplogroup Q. Genebase Tutorials |author=Wendy Tymchuk |url=http://www.genebase.com/tutorial/item.php?tuId=16 |format=Verbal tutorial possible |publisher=Genebase Systems |year=2008 |access-date=November 21, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100622001311/http://www.genebase.com/tutorial/item.php?tuId=16 |archive-date=June 22, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author=Orgel L |title=Prebiotic chemistry and the origin of the RNA world|url=http://www.d.umn.edu/~pschoff/documents/OrgelRNAWorld.pdf |journal=Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=99–123 |pmid=15217990 |doi=10.1080/10409230490460765 |year=2004 |access-date=January 19, 2010|citeseerx=10.1.1.537.7679|s2cid=4939632 }}</ref> The former is the determinant factor for the number of [[gene]] lineages, [[zygosity]] mutations and founding [[haplotype]]s present in today's Indigenous American [[Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas|populations]].<ref name="Genebase"/>

The most popular theory is that human settlement of the Americas occurred in stages from the [[Bering Sea|Bering sea coast line]], with an initial 15,000 to 20,000-year layover on [[Beringia]] for the small [[Founder effect|founding population]].<ref name="SpencerWells3"/><ref name="First">{{Cite web|title=First Americans Endured 20,000-Year Layover&nbsp;— Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News |url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american.html |access-date=November 18, 2009 |publisher=[[Discovery Channel]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010092348/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american.html |archive-date=October 10, 2012}} [http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american-02.html p. 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313061401/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/13/beringia-native-american-02.html |date=March 13, 2012}}</ref><ref name="first2">{{cite web |title=New World Settlers Took 20,000-Year Pit Stop |first=Ker |last=Than |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080214-america-layover.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219013512/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080214-america-layover.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 19, 2008 |work=National Geographic Society |year=2008 |access-date=January 23, 2010}}</ref> The [[Microsatellite (genetics)|micro-satellite]] diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain [[Amerindian]] populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.<ref name="subclades">{{cite web|title=Summary of knowledge on the subclades of Haplogroup Q |url=http://64.40.115.138/file/lu/6/52235/NTIyMzV9K3szNTc2Nzc=.jpg?download=1 |publisher=Genebase Systems |year=2009 |access-date=November 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510204204/http://64.40.115.138/file/lu/6/52235/NTIyMzV9K3szNTc2Nzc%3D.jpg?download=1 |archive-date=May 10, 2011}}</ref> The [[Na-Dené]], [[Inuit]] and [[Alaska Natives|Indigenous Alaskan]] populations exhibit [[haplogroup Q-M242 (Y-DNA)]] mutations, however, that are distinct from other Indigenous Amerindians, and that have various mtDNA and atDNA mutations.<ref name="NaDene">{{Cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.23.13994 |author=Ruhlen M |title=The origin of the Na-Dene |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=95 |issue=23 |pages=13994–6 |year=1998 |pmid=9811914 |pmc=25007|bibcode=1998PNAS...9513994R |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Zhivotovsky">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Zegura SL, Karafet TM, Zhivotovsky LA, Hammer MF |title=High-resolution SNPs and microsatellite haplotypes point to a single, recent entry of Native American Y chromosomes into the Americas |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=164–75 |year=2004 |pmid=14595095 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msh009 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="inuit">{{cite journal |title=mtDNA Variation among Greenland Eskimos. The Edge of the Beringian Expansion |vauthors=Saillard J, Forster P, Lynnerup N, Bandelt HJ, Nørby S |year=2000 |doi=10.1086/303038 |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=67 |issue=3|pages=718–726 |pmid=10924403 |pmc=1287530}}</ref> This suggests that the paleo-Indian migrants into the northern extremes of North America and [[Greenland]] were descended from a later, independent migrant population.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The peopling of the New World&nbsp;— Perspectives from Molecular Anthropology |journal=Annual Review of Anthropology |year=2004 |volume=33 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143932 |pages=551–583 |last1=Schurr |first1=Theodore G.|s2cid=4647888}}</ref><ref name="Nadene1">{{cite journal|title=Native American Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Indicates That the Amerind and the Nadene Populations Were Founded by Two Independent Migrations|author=A. Torroni |volume=130 |pages=153–162 |pmid=1346260 |year=1992 |issue=1 |pmc=1204788|journal=Genetics|doi=10.1093/genetics/130.1.153 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene frequencies links the [[Ainu people]] of northern [[Japan]] and southeastern [[Russia]] to some [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]], especially to populations on the [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast|Pacific Northwest Coast]] such as [[Tlingit]]. Scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of some Native American groups can be traced back to [[Paleolithic]] groups in [[Southern Siberia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tokunaga |first1=Katsushi |last2=Ohashi |first2=Jun |last3=Bannai |first3=Makoto |last4=Juji |first4=Takeo |title=Genetic link between Asians and native Americans: evidence from HLA genes and haplotypes |journal=Human Immunology |date=September 2001 |volume=62 |issue=9 |pages=1001–1008 |doi=10.1016/S0198-8859(01)00301-9 |pmid=11543902}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Indigenous peoples of the Americas|United States}}
* [[List of historical Indian reservations in the United States]]
* [[List of Indian massacres in North America]]
* [[List of Indian reservations in the United States]]
* [[List of Native American firsts]]
* [[List of Native Americans of the United States]] (notable Native Americans)
* [[Racism against Native Americans in the United States]]
* [[List of U.S. communities with Native-American majority populations]]

==References==
{{Reflist|24em}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|d=Q49297|wikt=American Indian|c=Category:Native American people of the United States|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|species=no}}
* [http://www.bia.gov/ Official website] of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]], part of the [[US Department of the Interior]]
* [http://www.ncai.org/ Official website] of the [[National Congress of American Indians]]
* [https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans American Indian Records] from the [[National Archives and Records Administration]]
* [http://www.nmai.si.edu/ Official website] of the [[National Museum of the American Indian]], part of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]
* [http://www.narf.org/nill/index.html National Indian Law Library] of the [[Native American Rights Fund]] – a law library of federal Indian and tribal law

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